Like Mother, Like Daughter
by BubblesBlossomButtercup
Summary: Sophie Walker lives with her Aunt. She hardly ever sees her mum, who is a warden of a juvenile delinquent center in Texas. So when her mum invites her to stay at CGL for the summer, Sophie is reluctant. She thinks it will be the worse summer ever. Little does she know that she will learn a lot about herself, friendship, her mother and what exactly goes on at Camp Green Lake. R
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: This FF may seem incredibly similar to a FF written by the User 'Squidlyisgorjus,' from quite a number of years ago. This is because it is the same FF. I used to write on here when I was young under that username and although I don't have the same account now (I can't remember the password for it) and I don't even have the same email or anything to discover the password, I assure you and promise you it was definitely me. I am not stealing a FF or any ideas off of anyone and taking the credit! I was having a look at this FF the other day and thought that this wasn't too bad for a 13 year old and that it was a shame that I hadn't continued it. I hate leaving things unfinished. So I figured I would give it a go. I originally managed to complete eight chapters of this FF so if there seems to be a change in writing style after the eighth chapter then that's why. The first 8 chapters are going to be pretty much the same as I had them originally. **

**Also the usual, I do not own any of the Holes characters, places, or anything you find the familiar from both the novel and the film. **

**Another note; I am aware that Holes is both an American film and novel so I will try and maintain the slang and terminology but being British I am not fully clued up on it all so may slip up now and again so further apologies for that. **

Chapter one

Sophie Walker had lived with her auntie and uncle ever since she could remember. The reason she didn't live with her mum was because her mum was the warden of a boys juvenile delinquent centre somewhere in Texas. And her mum lived there, all year round, Sophie only saw her mum at Christmas and on her birthday. She wasn't allowed to live with her because 'Camp Green Lake' as her mother called it, was no place for a little girl.

But Sophie was no longer a little girl, she was approaching her sixteenth birthday, (which was lucky enough to be in the school summer vacation) and as a 'treat' her mum said Sophie could go and stay at Camp Green Lake for a whole three months. This would be the first time Sophie would ever have gone there. She wasn't looking forward to it. Sadly, she didn't really feel like she knew her mum and she didn't really want to go to a place which was full of criminals.

She wasn't really used to boys, let alone ones that had been convicted for crimes. This was because she attended an all-girls boarding school. The boarding school had been her mum's choice. She wanted Sophie to have a good education without any distractions.

Sophie had just finished packing her suitcase. She had put in a few good books, some homework she'd have to do over the holidays and her sketch book. She liked to draw and people often told her that he sketches were quite good. Perhaps there was one good thing about going to Camp Green Lake, there may be a lot of things to sketch.

As the clock on her wall ticked ever closer to the time when the bus would come and pick her up, she kept finding herself getting more and more anxious.

Her mum had described the boys as trouble- makers and scum of the earth. Sophie found that before she had even met them, she was sort of scared of them.

She looked in the mirror and brushed her long curly auburn hair so that it was out of her face, pinning it back with a headband. She didn't think she looked that much like her mother. Although she had the same pale skin, she didn't have any freckles. Her eyes were a deep brown and she had quite long eyelashes. She guessed her face must take after her dad a little bit, although she had no idea who he was. She'd often wonder what he was like but Sophie's mum never talked about him.

She heard her aunt calling her from downstairs that the bus was here. Sophie took a deep breath and took hold of her suitcase and lugged it downstairs. She gave her aunt and uncle a hug goodbye before leaving the house.

The bus driver was waiting outside.

"Shall I take your suitcase for you Miss Walker," he asked.

"Yes, thank you," she said, handing it to him. He carried it to the bus and opened the doors for her.

"We have had air conditioning temporarily installed, just for you, Miss Walker," the bus driver said, showing Sophie to the back of the bus.

"Well…um thank you," Sophie said again.

The bus ride to Camp Green Lake was very, very long and Sophie felt really hot even though the air conditioning was on full blast. _The driver had said it was temporarily installed, hadn't he? _Sophie thought. It felt like Sophie was trapped in a boiler room right now, so what must it feel like NOT to have air conditioning!

Sophie occupied herself by sketching some of the scenery she could see out of the window, she noticed how the environment changed to an empty wasteland, not much to sketch about really. She noticed all the holes that were all over the dry desert ground. She remembered her mum mentioning something about digging holes being the character- building labour at this camp.

Finally, Sophie could see the Camp Compound ahead of her, she felt another nervous jolt in her stomach as loads of dull looking tents and cabins came into view. As they approached closer she could see some boys, they were wearing orange jumpsuits or something. And they looked really worn- out and dusty. They all did look pretty tough, Sophie felt sick all of a sudden. She tucked her sketch pad back into her bag and bit her nails anxiously as she waited for the bus to stop.

The bus stopped outside a fairly big cabin. She guessed it was her mum's cabin from the car parked outside. Whenever her mum came to visit on Christmas or on her birthday, she'd always be in the boys were washing the car, Sophie hoped they wouldn't see her.

Sophie got off the bus, escorted by the bus- driver. One of the boys looked in her direction, he gave her a confused look before nudging the other guys to look. All of the boys just gawped as though Sophie was an alien from another planet. Sophie chose to ignore them altogether. She made sure she didn't look in their direction, just straight ahead, at the cabin before her. She felt truly sick in the stomach to be stuck with them for three months.

She saw her mum walking down the steps from the cabin, her curly red hair was tied up in a tight bun and Sophie thought that she may be even more frecklier than the last time she saw her. Her mum was wearing a floaty, blue blouse, tight jeans with some cowboy boats with turquoise stones studded in them. Sophie felt shy all of a sudden, she decided to look at her mum's boots, rather than her face.

"Hello Sophie! Did you have a good ride here?"

"Yes, It was ok, thank you for asking," Sophie said quietly, she looked up slightly and noticed that her mum wasn't really paying much attention, she was looking at the boys who were sniggering and looking at Sophie.

"Beat it, you lot!" her mum, yelled at them, "Or else you'll be washing my car for the next month!" The boys were quick to get away.

Sophie breathed in a sigh of relief.

"Follow me, Sophie, I'll show you, your room," her mum said, turning her attention back to Sophie.

Sophie nodded slightly and began to follow her mum up the cabin steps.

Her mum took her into her cabin and led her to a room.

"This will be your room, I'll leave you here, I have some important things do," Her mum said.

"Ok," Sophie mumbled as she placed her stuff down on her bed.

Her mum gave her a curt nod before turning to leave.

Sophie began unpacking her stuff, she realised that she felt really thirsty so she decided to go and look for something to drink.

She went into the main room and noticed that there was a TV, running machine, loads of make up and stuff. She saw a fridge behind a desk at one end of the room. Opening she noticed some bottles of Diet Cola, she hoped her mum wouldn't notice if she took one. She opened it and thirstily gulped half of it down.

She peaked through the net curtains outside. She could only make out some orange blurs in the distance.

She flopped down on the sofa, bored, absentmindedly twirling a long strand of auburn hair around her finger.

She was rudely awakened out of her day dream when the door of the cabin swung open. She jumped up startled, worried in case one of the boys had broken into the cabin, that's the sort of stuff juvenile delinquents do, right?

Luckily, it was just her mum and she was accompanied by a man who was wearing a cowboy hat, a tight pink shirt and he had large side burns, he was chewing vigorously.

"Sophie," her mum said, pointing towards the strange looking guy, "This is Mr Sir,"

"Um… hello Mr Sir," Sophie said uncertainly, she didn't like the look of this guy, plus anyone with the name like Mr Sir is bound to be a bit weird.

Mr Sir just nodded towards her in reply.

Sophie's mum gave him a sharp look, "I figured you'd be bored stuck in this cabin so I thought you could go out and help Mr Sir with some errands that are needed around the camp, he is to look after you and to treat you the way he treats me," She gave Mr Sir another stern look at this.

"Um...it's ok, I don't want to leave the cabin anyway, I'll be alright in here," Sophie pleaded. She didn't feel ready to go outside yet.

"Excuse me?" he mum said.

"Well…ok then, I'll go outside," Sophie was quick to give in. She didn't like it when her mum took that tone.

"If I hear that Mr Sir hasn't been doing his job of looking after you properly I will have to take some serious action," her mother continued.

Mr Sir grumbled something at this, he had an annoyed look on his face.

"Mr Sir, show Sophie all she needs to know about Camp Green Lake, after all, she will inherit this place after I pass away," Her mum said.

Sophie mouth dropped open. _Inherit this place? I don't want to inherit this place! It's hot and stuffy here. I don't want to have to spend my future looking after troubled youths._

**Please Read and Review ! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything that you recognise.**

**Please Read and Review!**

Chapter 2

Sophie felt like telling her mum that there was no way on heaven and earth that she was going to waste her future being in charge of a pointless Juvenile Delinquent Centre and that she thought the whole reason she had quite an expensive education was so that she could have a successful career in future. She had been planning on becoming a Lawyer' but she guessed that dream had been totally shattered now. Although Sophie felt like saying all this, the words just didn't seem to come out of her mouth. This may have been because she was just so shocked, or it may have been because she was a bit frightened of what her mum's reaction to all that would be.

Before she had even got the chance to work up the courage to perhaps say it, she was ushered out of the cabin by her mum and found herself standing outside with the grumpy, wannabe- cowboy. "But I don't want to…" Sophie mumbled under her breath, her eyes fixed on the cracked ground.

"What was that?" she heard Mr Sir say sharply.

She looked up to see him staring down at her, his brow furrowed in a deep frown.

"Nothing," Sophie mumbled.

Mr Sir gestured for Sophie to follow him and began walking briskly so that Sophie had to jog to keep up with him.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"To the Wreck room," Mr Sir grunted, "I have to watch the boys to make sure no fights happen, we seem to be having a lot recently."

Sophie stopped dead in her tracks, "Fights?" she gulped, imagining boys punching one another and even possibly starting on her.

"Yeah, are you deaf or something..." Mr Sir started to say but he quickly stopped and his face turned beetroot, "Um.. Sorry.. Sophie, is it? Yeah it's Sophie. What I was meant to say there is fights, the boys are a snaky little bunch, of course you're not deaf"

He laughed nervously. Sophie looked at him quite baffled at his sudden apology, then she realised, her mum had said 'treat her like you treat me,' and perhaps he had realised that he wasn't treating Sophie the way he treats his boss.

Sophie looked at Mr Sir warily, these Juvenile Delinquents sounded worse and worse every minute.

"This is the Wreck room," Mr Sir said, pushing open a rickety door which creaked melodramatically, "Stay close to me"

Sophie peaked around Mr Sir cautiously.

First thing she noticed was that the lights were very dim in this room, and she could hear the blare of the radio and the noise of pool balls being hit. She could see a lot of boys in orange jumpsuits, most were just slumped on torn, grotty couches and chairs, but she could see a fair amount of activity as well. About five boys were crowded around a battered weight bench and she could see that a large pool table stood out above everything else, and quite a few of the boys were very absorbed in a game of pool. Everything looked grubby or broken in the Rec room. Sophie wasn't really surprised.

She didn't want to go in. She kept thinking how much she'd prefer to be back in her mum's cabin right now, at least it was clean! Everything in the Rec room seemed to have a layer of dirt and dust on it.

Mr Sir walked in, eyeing the boys suspiciously. The boys didn't seem to pay much attention to him. Sophie tried to walk behind him, as quiet as she could, so she didn't draw attention to herself.

That didn't really work.

"LOOK, THERE'S THE GIRL WE TOLD YOU ABOUT"

"And you didn't believe us"

"She's pretty hot"

"Woah! What is a chick doing here"

Soon all the calls and comments became all one big noise to Sophie. She stood next to Mr Sir and tried to avoid eye contact with any of the boys. Instead she looked straight ahead, at the grubby wall opposite.

"SHUT UP THE LOT OF YER!" Sophie heard Mr Sir bellow.

The boys quietened down slightly.

"This is the Warden's daughter, she will be staying here for three months, and if any of you boys lay so much as one finger on her, the Warden says you will have to dig two holes a day from then on," Mr Sir shouted over the slight noise.

The boys looked sort of disappointed. Sophie warily looked at them. She felt many eyes bore into her.

After Mr Sir had finished his little speech some boys turned and carried on with whatever they were doing before. Most, however, continued to stare at Sophie. Sophie stuck close to Mr Sir. She didn't really like him but she didn't dare leave his side.

Mr Sir was standing by the pool table, watching over quite a rowdy game of pool.

Sophie stood by him, looking down at her feet so that she wouldn't have to see the boys staring at her.

"You alright?" she heard a voice above her. She knew it was one of the boys who were watching the pool game.

She slowly looked up. A blonde haired boy was standing beside her. He was staring at her with piercing green eyes.

"I'm as fine as I'd ever be stuck in the middle of no-where and totally frying up in this heat," Sophie said, sarcastically. Sophie actually surprised herself that she had actually spoken.

The boy laughed roughly, "Yeah, I guess it was a kind of stupid question to ask"

"It was," Sophie said, abruptly. She kept saying sarcastic, obnoxious things without even meaning too.

The boy raised an eyebrow at her, "Your quite a feisty one, ain't yer?"

"I wouldn't describe it as feisty," Sophie said grumpily, "Just wanting to be left alone are the words I'd chose"

Mr Sir gave the boy a harsh look, "Clear off, Cats eye"

Cats eye? Sophie wondered if she had heard correctly.

"I was just being friendly Mr Sir," the boy said, defensively.

"_You_ being friendly?" Mr Sir snorted, "Never heard of such an absurd thing, now bugger off before I call the Warden telling her your harassing her daughter," The boy gave Mr Sir a dirty look before slouching off towards some dodgy looking boys standing in the corner.  
Sophie felt a wave of relief wash over her, finally he had gone!

"Did I hear you call that boy, Cats eye," Sophie asked Mr Sir curiously.

"Yeah, it's his nickname, his real name is um… Arron, I think," Mr Sir said.

Mr Sir's walkie-talkie then began making noises and he went off in the corner to talk into it.

Sophie suddenly found herself all alone, standing in the middle of the Rec room.

It wasn't long before someone came over to her. This boy had short, spiky brown hair and hazel eyes. He had his eye- brow pierced and Sophie could see a tattoo of a snake slithering up his arm. "I'm glad you're by yourself," he said grinning.

"I'm not glad," Sophie squeaked.

"Don't worry babe, you're in safe hands," the boy said still with the grin on his face.

"Well if it's your hands I don't feel particularly safe!" Sophie said, backing away from him.

"Hey now! You can't be saying that. You don't even know me," he said, the grin vanishing.

"And I don't want to know you!" Sophie said, still moving away from him.

"Good, I like girls who play hard to get," he said.

"I'm not playing hard to get, you'll never 'get' me so just, get away from me!" she said, getting really annoyed with him being so persistent.

"Is Snake bothering you?" Sophie heard a voice behind her.

She turned around and saw an African American boy behind her who was wearing thick-rimmed glasses. "No I'm not bothering you, am I, babe? We're just having a nice chat that's all, X ray," Snake said.

"Well to me it looks like she doesn't want to have a 'nice chat' with you," X ray said, folding his arms and giving Snake a piercing glare.

"C'mon, let's go somewhere more private," Snake said, grabbing Sophie's arm.

"GET OFF OF ME!" Sophie shouted, digging her nails into Snake's arm so that he gasped in pain and immediately let go.

The boy with the glasses who Sophie assumed was called X ray shoved Snake backwards so that he stumbled over the chair behind him.

Snake quickly got up and fixed X ray with an icy glare but he didn't say a word, instead he just turned round and 'slithered' off in the other direction.

"Are you ok?" X ray asked, looking at Sophie who was breathing heavily.

Before Sophie could answer, Mr Sir came dashing over.

"Well, well, well, I shouldn't be at all surprised," Mr Sir said, a slightly amused expression on his face.

Sophie looked up at the odd man, confused.

Mr Sir carried on looking at X ray, "You always have to have everything don't you, X ray? You're always first in the water line. You always go around with all your little cronies obeying your every order. You always think what you say goes and now the minute I leave Sophie by herself you are straight over to her. C'mon Sophie," he began walking towards the other side of the Rec room and Sophie followed him.

_Right, that has just confirmed it, Mr Sir is such an oddball! _

**I'd be happy to hear any comments on what you think so far **


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything you recognise apart from Sophie Walker, she's mine.**

Chapter three

The next chore on the agenda was for Sophie to help serve dinner. She had been ushered into the 'Mess Hall' and told to stick on a hairnet and rubber gloves. She had just finished tucking her long, curly hair into the hairnet when Mr Sir took her over to the place where she would be serving the food. Tall, metal pots, with ladles sticking out were stood all along the counter.

"You'll be serving this," Mr Sir grunted, pointing towards the nearest pot.

Sophie stood on her tiptoes to take a peak inside. She wished she hadn't.

Inside was the most foulest looking food (if you could call it that) she had ever seen, and that was including her Auntie's spinach and cabbage pie. It looked like a big lumpy, ball of greeness. Sophie had to cover her nose because of the smell.

"You feed them this?!" Sophie exclaimed, ladling up some of the green gloop and then letting it drip back off the ladle, "Gross."

Mr Sir ignored her and went over to talk to some guy who was wearing clothes that looked two- sizes too big for him and had a goofy grin stretched across his face.

Sophie stared at the 'food' repulsively for a couple of seconds. It wasn't long until she heard the noisy clatter of the boys entering the Mess Hall.

Sophie tried not to look at the boys as she shovelled the horrible green stuff onto their trays.. A few made a couple of comments but she chose to ignore them until they got bored and stalked off. The ladle was rather heavy and her wrist felt a bit achy after what felt like the hundredth scoop. And the smell was making her gag.

_How the hell can these boys EAT this stuff_? she thought, but her thoughts were interrupted when she heard yet another voice from one of the boys in the queue.

"Hi, you're Sophie, right?" Sophie looked up to see who it was. She didn't think any of the boys knew her name.

She saw that it was the African American boy with big glasses…she thought that his name was something like… X ray. "How do you know my name?" she asked, readjusting her hand so she could lean it against the massive pot so that it didn't ache as much.

"I…uh…heard Mr Sir call you that," X ray shrugged.

"Oh right," Sophie said sharply, pouring the green gloop onto his tray.

"Are you alright now then?" X ray asked, obviously referring to when Snake had grabbed Sophie by the arm and tried to pull her away.

"Yeah, I can take care of myself you know," Sophie said defensively, giving him a cold stare.

"I can obviously see that from the way you dug your nails into him," X ray said, chuckling a little. Sophie was unable to suppress a small smile.

She heard one of the boys behind X ray clear their throat.

"Are you gonna introduce me then, X?" the boy said, he was wearing a doo-rag and was chewing on a toothpick.

"Um…ok," X ray glanced at the boy then back to Sophie, "This is Squid"

Squid gave Sophie a cheeky wink.

Sophie scowled, "Wink at me again and I'll poke your eye out"

Squid raised his eyebrows, X ray just burst out laughing.

"C'mon Squid…let's go," X ray spluttered. Squid followed X ray to a table.

Sophie lay in her bed, staring up at the pale ceiling. She felt too hot to go to sleep, even though the cabin was air-conditioned. She felt a little homesick. She'd give anything to be away from this place. She had been sent back to her cabin after dinner by Mr Sir. Her mum wasn't anywhere to be seen so she had just drew some sketches for a bit. As it got darker, she had decided to go bed. Her mum still hadn't arrived back at the cabin.

Sophie didn't like being left in the cabin by herself.

She rolled over in her bed, which creaked as she did so. She saw the bedroom door slowly swing open and light flooded in.

She leapt up in bed, startled.

"Calm down, Sophie, it's only me," she heard her mum's voice.

Sophie ran a hand through her hair, "You scared me then," she mumbled.

"I just wanted to talk to you," her mum said, walking into the room.

"What about?" Sophie asked curiously. She was worried in case her mum was going to spring any more surprises on her. Like the fact she was supposed to be inheriting Camp Green Lake.

"I want to know how you got on today?" her mum folded her arms slightly.

"Well, the boys kept saying stuff, like oh my god there's a girl to begin with, and quite a couple tried to talk to me but I told them to go away. Then one tried to pull me away so I dug my nails into him, and then this other guy…um.. X ray pushed him over and he went,"

"X ray, huh?" Her mum looked thoughtful for a second, "Do you like him?"

"Not really, mind you, he seems to be the most decent one out of the lot of them," Sophie shrugged. She wondered why her mum asked that.

Her mum nodded slightly, and as she did so a couple of strands of curly hair fell out from the band holding it up.

"Did you see a boy named Squid?" she asked.

"uh…Oh yeah, I did," Sophie said, remembering.

"Do you like him?" her mum persisted.

"No way, Jose," Sophie said, matter of factly, "I told him I'd poke his eye out"

Her mum raised her thin eyebrows at this, "Oh I thought you'd find him attractive at the least."

Sophie looked at her mum sideways, she felt really uncomfortable talking to her mum, who she barely knew about that sort of stuff, "Attractive… yeah, I guess so…but it's personality that counts, right?"

"Did you see a boy named Zero," her mum carried on.

"No," Sophie didn't think she heard that name, "Can I ask why you are asking me these questions?"

"Just wanted a girly chat with my daughter, to find out who you might like," her mum said, smiling slightly.

"I don't like any of them," Sophie said, bluntly.

Her mum looked surprised at this, but just shrugged, "Actually I'm quite glad you said that, I was hoping you would say that, I don't really want you to be involved with any of these boys."

"Trust me, I won't be," Sophie said, pulling her covers over her.

"Good," her mum nodded curtly before leaving the room.

_Phew, that was weird_, Sophie thought as she rolled over in the bed and buried herself deeper among the covers.

Sophie was woke up at 7am by her mum knocking on her bedroom door.

"Wake up, Sophie! I want you to help Mr Sir do the water rounds," her mum's voice echoed in her drowsy head.

She rolled over onto her back and tried to force her eyes open, they felt as though they were weighed down.

"Get up Sophie, Now!"

"Mmmph," Sophie mumbled something that was meant to sound like, "Wait a minute,"

She managed to prise her eyes open. Dhe looked across at her alarm clock.

_Seven in the morning!  
_  
Sophie had never been a morning person.

"Sophie!" her mum screeched.

"Yeah, I'm up," she grumbled.

"Okay, get changed quickly, Mr Sir's waiting outside," her mum said from behind the door. Sophie could hear the noise of her mum's cowboy boots clip-clopping down the hall.

Sophie drowsily stuffed on a pair of dark green combats on and a plain white vest top before brushing her auburn curls which had gotten very tangled in the night. She quickly put her hair up and stuffed a dark green cap on top. She grabbed her sketch book off the dressing table, wondering if there would be anything she could sketch out where the boys were digging holes.

Mr Sir was waiting outside, when he saw Sophie leave the cabin he gestured for her to follow him.

_Great, another day stuck with this cowboy wannabe,_ Sophie thought miserably, tucking her sketch book tight underneath her arm.

He led her to a water truck and got inside the driver's side.

Sophie opened the door and got in the other side. She placed her sketch book carefully on the dash board.

Mr Sir started the engine and turned the radio on. Some song which seemed to be in Spanish blared out of the speakers. Mr Sir checked himself out in the wind mirror, running a hand through his hair. Sophie rolled her eyes and stared dismally out the dusty window.

Mr Sir began to drive towards the wasteland of holes ahead. They past the millions of holes and Sophie looked interestedly into each one, hoping to see a rattlesnake or even a small lizard. No such luck.

Mr Sir stopped first of all at a place where the boys of A tent were digging.

Sophie refused to get out of the truck, so Mr Sir hopped out alone as A tent formed a line. Sophie ducked low in her seat. She didn't want any of them to see her.

It felt like ages before Mr Sir came back in the truck and started the engine once more.

He gave Sophie a sideways glance. Sophie was so low in her seat it was as though she was lying down.

The stopped at B tent's site next.

"Are you going to help me fill the canteens?" Mr Sir asked, not very hopefully.

"No! I'm staying in here, thanks," Sophie mumbled, taking a small peak through the window.  
She gasped slightly when she saw Snake walking towards the back of the water truck. He didn't see her though. She quickly ducked back.

"You're going to have to help me at some point," Mr Sir said, "Your mum told me that you had to help me fill the canteens."

Sophie just shrugged, "Not just yet," she managed to squeak.

"Suit yourself," Mr Sir grumbled, obviously trying not to lose his temper with Sophie. A vein seemed to pop out on his head. Sophie looked at him in disgust.

_I actually should be more worried about Mr Sir than any of these boys_, Sophie thought.

He opened the door and left the truck to begin 'giving lake water to the little fishies,' as he put it.

After what felt like ages he got back in the truck and drove over to the next stop, C tent's digging site.

"You're coming to help this time," Mr Sir demanded rather than asked.

Sophie nodded glumly.

He got out of the truck and Sophie slowly opened the door and clambered out herself. She walked behind him as he walked to the end of the truck. The boys of C tent were lined up and waiting.

"Right Sophie, I'll get the canteens and you can turn the tap on for me," Mr Sir said, taking the canteen off the dark- haired boy at the front of the queue.

Sophie twisted the tap so that water poured out and Mr Sir put the canteen underneath and waited until it was full before giving it back to the boy.

They repeated this for every boy in the queue.

Sophie was relieved to find that the boys only took a few sneaky glances at her. They didn't dare say anything, not with Mr Sir standing in front of her.

When the last boy, a fair haired lad with freckles who looked very skinny, got his canteen filled, Sophie rushed back to the truck. She couldn't get in fast enough.

Mr Sir hopped in too and they drove to D tent's digging area.

Sophie glanced out the window and could recognise two of the boys of D tent.

X ray, who was already at the back of the water truck waiting, and Squid who had just hopped out of his hole.

"Are you getting out of this truck or what?" she heard Mr Sir's voice sound out impatiently.

"Yeah," she mumbled quietly, opening the door.

She heard Mr Sir say, "Come on little fishies, come and get your lake water, get it? Lake water, it's a joke!" yet again.

_Does he even realise how corny that joke is?_ Sophie thought grumpily,_ If you can even call it a joke, I don't hear anybody laughing._

Sophie followed to the back of the truck where D tent were waiting in line.

X ray smiled at her as she turned the tap on.

She didn't smile back though, just looked down at the sparkling water as it flowed into the canteen. She was beginning to feel thirsty from the heat.

_How can the boys stand being out in this heat, digging, all day,_ Sophie thought, licking her dry lips, trying to get some moisture. X ray seemed to notice, "You can have a bit if you want," he offered after Mr Sir had given it back to him.

Sophie gave him a small, grateful smile and took a quick gulp before filling it to the brim again and giving it back.

Next in the queue was a large African American boy. Then Squid who didn't even look at Sophie. He kept his eyes on the ground and twiddled his toothpick impatiently as he waited for his canteen to be filled. Next, was a really tall boy, with wild, blonde, crazy hair and wide, bright blue eyes. He eyed Sophie suspiciously as she turned the tap on to fill his canteen. Sophie wondered why and gave him a look that simply meant, _What are you staring at?_ He didn't take the hint though and just carried on unblinkingly staring at her. Next, was a Hispanic boy who was wearing a dark blue bandana. He smiled at Sophie suggestively, she just ignored him. Next, was a boy with curly brown hair and a red cap placed on top, he looked at Sophie shyly.

Finally, at the very end of the queue was a small boy, who had dark skin and curly, brown hair. He stared, intently at the ground as Sophie filled his canteen.

When Sophie had turned the tap off she got into the truck with Mr Sir and they drove to where E tent was digging.

Just as the truck came to a stop, a ginger- haired, gangly- looking boy came sprinting towards the truck.

"Mr Sir," he said, getting Mr Sir's attention, "We think there is a Yellow Spotted Lizard over there," He pointed out towards a hole which was quite far away.

Mr Sir readjusted his gun and climbed out of the truck.

"Stay here," he grunted at Sophie.

Sophie had never heard of a Yellow Spotted Lizard before. She wanted to see what it looked like. She grabbed her sketch book (hoping that she could perhaps draw a picture of it) and slipped out of the truck, walking quietly behind Mr Sir, hoping that he wouldn't see her. Mr Sir told the ginger boy to stay back as he approached the hole. This got Sophie a bit worried. _Perhaps it's dangerous,_ she thought. She stood next to the ginger boy, who was staring at the hole with a slightly frightened look.

Mr Sir glanced cautiously down the hole and without any warning a sudden flash of reptile green and yellow darted out of the hole. Mr Sir shot it mid- jump. The lizard lay on the dusty ground, it's body fidgeting slightly before becoming still.

"Why did you do that?" Sophie demanded, she hated any cruelty to animals and it actually made her feel quite sick to just see one have a bullet blasted into it.

Mr Sir looked at Sophie in surprise, "What are you doing out of the truck!"

He was beginning to sound angry, which frightened Sophie a bit, as Mr Sir's face grew redder and redder. She thought he was going to burst! Sophie wondered why he was overreacting… perhaps he just wanted a reason to yell.

"I wanted to see the lizard," Sophie said simply.

"I told yer to stay in the truck," Mr Sir growled, his voice raising, "The warden would kill me if she found out I let her daughter this close to a Yellow Spotted Lizard,"

"What's the big deal?" Sophie said, a little more heatedly than intended.

"THE BIG DEAL!" Mr Sir spluttered, his piggy eyes bulging out, "THE BIG DEAL IS THAT ONE BITE FROM A YELLOW SPOTTED LIZARD AND THAT'S IT, YOUR DEAD, NOTHING CAN SAVE YOU!"

Sophie was shocked that Mr Sir had suddenly started yelling at her, she looked at him all wide-eyed, but didn't answer back.

E tent's canteen- filling was done quite quickly, probably because Mr Sir was in a foul mood. He would snatch the canteen off the boy, hold it under the tap, wait until Sophie filled it, then thrust it back at the boy who would quickly scarper and the next one would get his canteen snatched off him and so on.

When they got back in the water truck, Mr Sir was still grumbling agitatedly to himself. Sophie sat quietly and chewed on her thumb nail. The only actual words the Sophie could hear Mr Sir say were, "I'm going to drop you off at the Warden's cabin. Mr Pendanski will get you at lunch time so you can help him with the lunch rounds,"

**Thank you for reading.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: The usual, Holes belong to Louis Sachar, not me! **

**Please Read and Review, I would really be grateful for any comments on what you have read so far ****.**

Chapter Four

Sophie waited in her mum's cabin for the 'Mr Pendanski' guy who Mr Sir had mentioned she was going to do Lunch rounds with. She was doodling some pictures in her sketch book when she heard a light knocking on the cabin door, and a bright and cheery voice, "Hullllooo! Is Sophie there?"

"Uh… Yeah, Sophie is here?" Sophie sat up uncertainly, a bit taken aback by the over enthusiastic voice.

"Could you let me in then? The door is kind of locked," The voice said.

"Okay," Sophie got up from her comfortable position on the couch and walked over to the door, "Are you Mr Pendanski?"

"Yes, that is me!" The bouncy voice said.

Sophie opened the door and standing outside was a short, odd looking man. His socks were pulled right up to his knees, even though it was sweltering hot. He had the most goofiest smile plastered across his face that Sophie had ever seen.

"C'mon then, we better give these boys their lunches!" he said, before turning around and making his way towards the water truck.

_Okkkayy then!_ Sophie thought, rolling her eyes as she followed the man who reminded her strongly of a bouncy ball for some reason, _I think my mum has a problem with hiring too many odd people in this camp_. She hopped in the truck and they drove off towards the digging sights.

At each stop Mr Pendanski and Sophie would set up a fold up table and lay out an assortment of foods across it. _Everything here looks like it's came from a can,_ Sophie thought as she eyed the baloney and cheese sandwich uncertainly.

Sophie decided to face Snake in B tent this time. She knew she shouldn't be scared of him. She didn't want to be a wimpy kind of girl. He glared at her as B tent lined up. Sophie just threw him a dirty look and thrust his sandwich at him. As he reached out to catch it Sophie noticed deep nail marks gouged into his arm.

Sophie and Mr Pendanski had just set up the table for D tent when X ray came over to get his lunch.

"Hey Soph!" he said, as she gave him his sandwich. (She had to give the sandwiches and crackers out because Mr Pendanski said there had been too many incidents of people taking more than their fair share of food)

Sophie cringed slightly, she hated anyone calling her Soph. X ray looked as though he was waiting for her to say Hi back. Sophie just nodded curtly in acknowledgment. X ray was satisfied with this, "Sophie, Why don't you come to the Rec room sometime, you can hang around with us guys,"

"Uh… no…I don't want to," Sophie said, bluntly.

X ray looked a little put out but he just shrugged as though it didn't bother him, "That's cool… maybe another time, huh?"

"Mmm," Sophie said absentmindedly, chewing on her thumb nail.

X ray gave her the slightest hint of a smile before making his way towards his hole.

When Sophie was dropped off back at her cabin, she noticed a note placed on the coffee table.  
Sophie flopped down on the couch and picked up the note. It said;

_To Sophie,_

_I am having a nap. Do not disturb me. Your next chore is to do the laundry. Go to the laundry room, Mr Sir showed you were it was yesterday, and put the clothes in the washing machine, fold them up and then put them in piles of each tent (Everyone has their names written on the label and which tent they are in) After you have finished go to the Mess hall, the boys will probably have finished their dinner by then. I want you to help wash the dishes. After that come straight back to the cabin._

_DO NOT GO TO THE REC ROOM OR IN ANY OF THE TENTS!_

_Mum_

Sophie sighed in deeply, screwing the note up and chucking it in the bin beside her mum's desk. It missed.

_Why do I have to do all these chores! I am supposed to be here to visit my mum, yet she is treating me as though I am one of her workers!_

Sophie really didn't want to do the chores, but she didn't want her mum to get mad at her either. She slowly got up and went over to the scrunched up piece of paper on the floor. She went to bend down and pick it up when she noticed a box on her mum's desk. It had Sophie's name written on it in big bold letters.

She recognised the hand writing but she couldn't think of whose it was. She looked at the box inquisitively for a few seconds before lifting it off the desk and onto the floor. It felt quite heavy. She noticed that the lid of the box had an envelope taped onto it. She pulled it off and opened it, pulling the letter out.

She began to read;

_Hiya Sophie! it's me, Linzi!_

_How are you getting on at Camp Green Lake? Is it as bad as you thought it was going to be? We're all missing you like mad here. I can't wait until you come back.  
Mum brought me a horse the other day, I've called her 'Pebbles,' like the baby off the Flintstones. You should see her. She is beautiful. I know you would love to come and ride her. You can, as soon as you come home.  
Your Aunt told me to enclose your Ipod and headphones in the box. I have put some sweets in as well._

_See you soon!_

_Linzi_

Linzi was Sophie's best friend from home and they had both been devastated that they wouldn't be spending this summer together, hanging out. Sophie eagerly opened up the box and took out her ipod. She must have left it on her bed when she had been packing. She was normally never seen without it or without headphones stuck in her ears at home. It would drive her Aunt mad when she would be talking away to Sophie and then would realise that she hadn't heard a word because she had music blaring in her ears.

At the bottom of the box she found a bag full of sweets, lollipops, sherbet, Gummy bears, Haribo, Chocolate and loads more. Sophie stuffed everything back in the box and struggled slightly as she took it to her room.

_I might as well take my ipod with me when I do the laundry. It'll be something that can entertain me when I do these boring chores… oh yeah, and it wouldn't hurt to take some lollipops and perhaps a packet of M&M's._

She turned her ipod on and placed her headphones in her ears as she made her way down the steps from the cabin. She paused slightly at the bottom of the steps. She looked at all the cabins and tents in front of her, trying to remember which was the laundry room. She wasn't even sure if Mr Sir had actually told her where it was.

She began to walk across the cracked and dusty ground. She didn't know where she was going. She figured that perhaps she could go looking for the laundry room. She would find it- in the end. She just hoped that she wouldn't accidentally walk into the Rec room. Her mum had specifically told her not to go in there. She carried on walking towards a cabin which she wasn't sure was the Laundry room or Mr Sir's cabin but she thought that she could just check to find out.

She was walking with her head down, listening to her ipod, when she banged into someone and was knocked backwards.

"OW!" she muttered angrily, lying on her back on the hard ground. Her headphones had fallen from her ears.

"Are you alright?" she heard a voice above her.

"NO!" Sophie practically yelled, "I'VE JUST HAD THE WIND KNOCKED OUT OF ME, DO YOU THINK I'D BE ALRIGHT!"

Sophie pushed herself up, her head felt quite dizzy.

She saw a boy in front of her. He was really tall and had crazy blonde hair and a wild look in his eye. She recognised him as one of the boys from D tent.

"You're the girl that's been sent here by the Brain- washing Aliens from Jupiter, aren't you? That's why you had those head phone thingeys in your ears, you're communicating to them through it!" The boy said, his eyes very wide, he looked a little anxious.

"Eh, no!" Sophie said, feeling confused, "Where did you get that idea from?"

"See, I know these things, they've been trying to Brain- wash us humans for centuries, you're really an Alien aren't you? YOU'VE TAKEN A PRETTY HUMAN GIRL FORM!" The boy looked really worried now.

Sophie gave the boy a shocked look, "What the hell-" she started to say.

"Aha!" the boy said, pointing at her accusingly, "Those Alien's are more clever than I expected. They knew that a pretty human girl could entrance all the boys here so she could brain- wash them. I don't care how pretty you are! YOU CAN'T BRAINWASH ME!" He covered his ears and scrunched up his face slightly.

Sophie stood up, "I'm NOT an alien!" she said, giving him a look that meant, _You are SO weird, just like Mr Sir and Mr Pendanski.  
_  
"That's just what an alien would say though, isn't it?" the boy said, his eyes growing wider.

"But that's what a human would say too," Sophie said matter of factly.

The boy looked bemused for a couple of seconds as though trying to figure this out.

Suddenly, the anxious look returned to his face. "AHHHH! SEE! YOUR BRAINWASHING ME ALREADY!" and with that he ran off in the opposite direction but Sophie grabbed him by the wrist.

"Stop! Just tell me where the Laundry room is then I won't brainwash you," she decided to go along with what the boy was saying, she really needed to know where the laundry room was.

"Uh… over t-there," the boy stammered, pointing towards the cabin opposite them.

"Oh, ok," Sophie let him go and he ran off. Bemused, Sophie brushed herself down and turned her ipod back on, readjusting her headphones. She shook her head slightly in disbelief. _That boy is one weird kid, Brain- washing Aliens from Jupiter?_ She thought.

Opening the door to the laundry room, she noticed all the clothes dumped in a massive pile in the middle of the room.

_There is so much!_ Sophie sighed. She REALLY didn't want to do this.

She spent the next couple of hours getting clothes, stuffing them in the ancient- almost-broken- down washing machine, then folding them up and placing them in the correct tent pile. She was disgusted when she found out she had to do the boys UNDERWEAR too. She gingerly picked them up and flung them into the washing machine.

After quite a long while and she had managed to battle her way through half of all the grubby jumpsuits and smelly socks and she decided that she deserved a break. She sat herself down on the hard floor and popped a lollipop in her mouth.

She looked down as she fiddled with the tight wrapping of another lollipop, she managed to rip off the wrapping and when she looked up she almost jumped up in shock. Snake was standing at the doorway of the Laundry room. She must not have heard him creep in because of the music she had blaring.

She stood up and looked at him anxiously suddenly realising it was only him and her, alone, in the laundry room- all of the other boys were having dinner in the mess hall, her mum was in the cabin having a nap. No one could help her.

Snake had an odd glint in his eye, he held up his jumpsuit, "Forgot to bring it in here after digging, thought I'd bring it now," his voice was cold and it sent shivers up Sophie's spine.

"Put it down there and go," Sophie muttered, she pointed down at the pile of unwashed clothes.

Snake flung his jumpsuit on the pile, "But I don't want to go… just yet..."

He walked closer to Sophie. Sophie backed away against the wall.

"Leave me alone!" Sophie hissed, throwing him a dirty look.

"C'mon, Soph, you know you like me," Snake said, sneering slightly. He was right in front of Sophie, he was too close to her and she didn't like it.

"NO I DON'T!" Sophie yelled, trying to push past him but he pushed her back.

"How about a kiss, Sophie?" he asked, leaning forward, he grabbed her face and tried to pull it towards his.

"NO!" Sophie bellowed, struggling to get away. She dug her nails into his wrist again.

"Ow!" he winced in pain but gritted his teeth and didn't let go.

He slammed her against the wall and Sophie felt the breath get knocked out of her for the second time today.

"Get off of me!" she growled, trying to fight back tears.

She tried to push his face away. She pulled on his hair, pushing his face back.

He just grabbed her wrists and pulled her into him.

She felt his hands go up her t-shirt, his callus hands felt rough against her soft skin. She kicked at him to try and make him let go. She yelled in frustration.

Suddenly she felt him be roughly pulled off of her.

She stood there shaking and saw Mr Sir push Snake on the floor. He looked really angry. Sophie saw her mum standing beside him, a furious look on her face too.

"Mr Sir, take Snake to your cabin, I will see to him in a minute, Sophie, go back to my cabin, now!" her voice was trembling with a mixture of fury and worry.

Sophie shakily picked up her belongings and walked out the Laundry room. Her legs felt like jelly but as soon as she was outside she began running towards her mum's cabin.

Back in the cabin, Sophie lay in her bed, the covers pulled right over her head. She was crying quietly into her pillow. She hated it at CGL. She just wanted to go home. She wanted to get away from this horrible place. It was too hot here, the boys were horrible, she had just been attacked, she just didn't feel safe. And she desperately felt like she needed to be safe. She also thought about how lucky she was that her mum and Mr Sir turned up when they did.

_But how did they know,_ She wondered.

She heard the door to her room open and her mum's voice, "Sophie, Snake has been punished very harshly,"

Sophie tried to stifle her sobs. "Sophie?" Her mum repeated.

"Yeah?" Sophie mumbled, sniffing.

"He has been locked in Mr Sir's cabin, it will be alright for you to come out now and do the dishes in the Mess hall," her mum said.

Sophie sat up so fast it made her head feel dizzy. The nerve of her mum! All her mum cared about was Sophie doing chores. Sophie had just been attacked by one of the boys in CGL, she didn't want to go back out there and face any more of them.

"Mum! No!" Sophie gasped, "I don't want to go back out there!"

"I know your worried, but it's Ok. You won't see Snake and you'll be with Mr Pendanski who is going to stay with you," her mum continued.

"Please, I just don't want to go out there, let me stay in here, please, let me stay here!" Sophie begged.

"No! You are to finish your chores, You will be outside this cabin where Mr Pendanski is waiting in the next few minutes, end of!" her mum was beginning to sound annoyed. She walked briskly out of the room before Sophie got a chance to argue.

Sophie felt fresh tears spilling down her cheeks. She walked over to the dressing table and caught sight of herself in the mirror. Her eyes were all red and puffy from crying and her hair had gone seriously frizzy. She rubbed her eyes and wiped away all her tears with some tissue.

She cautiously walked out of the cabin and saw Mr Pendanski waiting for her.

"Sophie, I know you are feeling worried, but that was only a freak incident, me, your mother and Mr Sir will make sure nothing like that happens again. Boys with raging hormones do crazy things and we are fully aware of that. We don't want you to spend your time at CGL worrying about the boys," Mr Pendanski said as though he had a whole speech planned as he was waiting for Sophie to leave the cabin.

Sophie didn't reply, she just stared at the ground, she found that her eyes were watering slightly again.

Mr Pendanski led Sophie through the back door of the Mess hall. This was where the kitchen area was. A large African American boy was in there already, carrying dirty trays to the side of a large metal sink. "This is Theodore," Mr Pendanski said, "He has to do washing because he got into a fight last week and this is his punishment,"

"Mom, I've told you before, It's Armpit!" the boy moaned, carrying about ten trays at once.

"Yes, but I prefer to call you by the name your parents gave you, the name society will recognise you by," Mr Pendanski said.

"Whatever dawg," Armpit murmured, he spotted Sophie and smiled, "Hey, you're the warden's daughter, aren't you"

Sophie didn't answer. She didn't want to talk to him.

"Yes she is," Mr Pendanski spoke for her, "And you better be nice to her, Theodore,"

"IT'S ARMPIT," Armpit said loudly, "And yeah… of course I'm going to be nice to her, I'm not stupid!"

Sophie's eyes remained glued to the ground.

"She's a bit quiet, ain't she?" Sophie heard Armpit say.

"Yeah, well, you two should decide whose washing and whose drying," Mr Pendanski quickly changed the subject.

"I'll dry, she can wash," Armpit said briskly, getting a worn looking tea towel out of a draw. Sophie remained where she was.

"Go on then Sophie, you better get cracking," Mr Pendanski said, looking at her expectantly. He walked over to a spindly chair in the corner and sat down on it. Sophie walked over to the big sink. She put the plug in and began running the water.

There was only one temperature- cold.

As she washed the dishes, Armpit kept trying to make conversation with her. Sophie ignored him most of the time, or either replied with nods or shakes of her head.

"What's wrong, eh?" he asked, looking at her quite intently as he vigorously dried a tray.

Sophie didn't reply for a second then she mumbled, "You got to do the drying, I have to do the washing," She lied to him, she didn't want to tell him the real reason why she was so miserable.

"Is that it!" Armpit exclaimed, laughing slightly, "You should of said, I'd of let you do the drying,"

"Can I do drying then?" Sophie quietly asked, scrubbing at a tough bit of what looked like green slime, on the tray.

"No, It's too late now," Armpit said smiling.

Sophie rolled her eyes and passed him the now clean tray.

"And besides," Armpit said, beginning to dry the tray, "You're so much more better at it than me. I always leave most of them dirty"

"Ew." Sophie mumbled.

After they had finished washing up, they had to put all the trays away in one cupboard.

Sophie had a pile stacked high on one side of the cupboard. Armpit shut the door of the cupboard a little too enthusiastically and it flung back open causing all the trays to come crashing down on Sophie.

"Ahh! ARMPIT!" Sophie's muffled yelp came from underneath the many trays.

Mr Pendanski, who had been snoozing on the chair woke up with a start.

Armpit's sides where almost splitting with laughter, "Sorry, Lil' girl! where are you? I can't see you!"

"I'm here," Sophie mumbled, sticking a hand out from beneath the trays.

"Theodore!" Mr Pendanski gasped, "Get her out of there now!"

Sophie felt herself being pulled upwards. She tugged her hand away from Armpit's grasp once she was standing.

"Oh no!" she mumbled looking at all the trays, talking to herself rather than Armpit "We have to stack all of these trays again,"

When Sophie got back to her mum's cabin she couldn't find her mum anywhere. She figured that her mum may be in bed. It was pretty late because it had taken ages for her and Armpit to stack up all the trays again.

Sophie just went to her room and got changed into her pyjamas. Climbing into bed, she snuggled amongst the covers and fell instantly asleep.

**Thanks for reading! Please REVIEW and tell me what you think. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

"Sophie, Wake UP, now!" Sophie drowsily leaned up in bed and rubbed her eyes.

"Sophie, I want you to dig a hole today," Sophie heard her mum's voice yet it took her a moment or two to register what her mum was saying.

"WHAT!" Sophie sat bolt upright.

Her mum stepped back from the bed slightly as though not expecting Sophie to leap up so quickly.

"I'm NOT digging a hole…. Why do I have to!" Sophie asked giving her mum a piercing glare that made her look uncannily like her mum.

"Because I say so," her mum gave Sophie the piercing glare back.

"But…but…mum…" Sophie's tone softened, she didn't want her mum to get angry with her, "I thought only the boys here had to dig holes, why do I?"

"Because, I thought that you could help out a bit more, you haven't been doing much to help out around here," her mum said, suddenly becoming interested with her own, long, manicured nails.

"I have SO been helping out, I done water rounds, lunch rounds, sorted out most of the laundry and washed the dishes, IF THAT'S NOT HELPING OUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS?" Sophie's voice steadily rose higher.

"Excuse me?" Sophie's mum said with a repulsed look on her face as she looked down at her daughter, "Do not talk to your mother like that, you have no right, you do as I say and that is final!"

Sophie glared up at her mum, "So, I have to dig a five foot hole?" she said, hardly daring to believe that THIS was her holiday.

"Not quite," her mum said calmly, " You will dig until the first water truck comes and then the boys take it in turns to finish your hole, that way I'll have eight holes,"

"Why is it important to have eight holes?" Sophie asked, feeling great relief that she didn't have to dig ALL day.

"None of your business, You are turning into a nosy little whatsit, aren't you?" her mum said, her eyes flashing dangerously.

"So, it'll still be dark when I dig, won't it?" Sophie asked, ignoring her mum's menacing glare.

"Yeah it will," her mum said, "Right, now for the matter of which tent you dig with..."

_Please not Snake's tent, please not Snake's tent_, Sophie thought desperately.

Her mum looked thoughtful for a moment and then said, "I think I'll let you chose, but I recommend D tent, they would be the safest for you"

Sophie thought for a second; _D tent…X ray is in that tent… he seems okayish…but that Zigzag guys in that tent… he's quite scary…Crazy…yeah, crazy describes him perfectly…well, if he does bother me, I could just threaten to brainwash him, couldn't I?  
_  
"Um, Ok, D tent then," Sophie said, shrugging.

"Right, get changed… I'd wear gloves if I were you… then go to the Library and get your shovel, just follow D tent, they will show you were to dig," her mum said, before leaving the room and shutting the door behind her.

Sophie slowly climbed out of bed, she checked through a gap in her net curtains and saw a few orange blurs in the distance heading towards the 'Library.'

After getting changed and finding some gloves she left the cabin and headed towards the 'Library.'

A lot of the boys were crowded around it now, getting their shovels.

Sophie's heart started beating very fast, she was scared in case she'd see Snake, and she really didn't want to see any of the boys. She understood what her mum meant now, _Lousy Scum!  
_  
Sophie didn't want to show the boys that she was anxious, although her hands felt increasingly sweaty inside her gloves as they all turned to look at her as she went past. She just held her head high, nose in the air, and marched past them.

Ignoring catcalls and whispers of, _"Why she going to get a shovel? She's not digging is she? Why is her own mum making her dig?"  
_  
She reached the 'Library,' and was about to grab a shovel when somebody tapped her on the shoulder.

She jumped slightly and a small gasp escaped her lips. Some of the boys nearby laughed. Sophie threw them a dirty look. Spinning round, she saw that the person who tapped her on the shoulder was X ray.

"Sorry, If I scared you," he said, casting worried looks as he spotted the disgruntled look on Sophie's face.

"You didn't scare me, what made you think that?" Sophie said, pretending that she hadn't just leapt half a mile in the air.

"Oh…nothing," X ray made a wise choice for his answer, "Are you going to dig?"

"Well, I'm getting a shovel, What do you think I'm going to do with it, Use it as a pool cue? Course I'm going to dig," Sophie said grumpily, early mornings and boys nearby sniggering at her just didn't put her in the right mood.

"Oh…yeah…guess so," X ray said uncertainly, "You can have my shovel if you want, it's smaller than the rest of them," He handed the shovel over to Sophie who looked at it closely.

She noticed that it in fact did look an inch or so smaller than the rest.

"Okay…thanks," Sophie said, feeling a tiny, weeny bit guilty that she had been so grumpy with him.

"Is it true?" X ray asked, looking at Sophie reproachfully as though worrying she might blow up.

"Is what true?" Sophie snapped, she hated feeling confused, especially when her head was feeling as drowsy as it was.

"Uh…that you and Snake…uh…made out in the laundry room," X ray said, still looking at Sophie closely from behind his thick- rimmed spectacles.

"WHAT!" Sophie yelled, many boys turned to look at the sudden outburst, "WHO THE HELL TOLD YOU THAT?"

X ray leapt back slightly. If Sophie wasn't so mad she would of cracked up laughing at the fact that a juvenile delinquent who was twice the side of her, looked slightly scared as she was yelling in his face. Sophie glared at X ray waiting for him to answer.

"Well…Snake did…he's been boasting about it all last night," X ray said, wincing slightly as though expecting her to start yelling again.

He guessed right.

"WHERE IS THAT PERVERTED BASTARD?!" Sophie yelled, "MAKING UP STUPID RUMORS, I'LL GET HIM!"

She looked around X ray and spotted Snake quite a distance ahead. She shoved past X ray and began running towards Snake. Her feet pounding against the hard, cracked ground. Snake turned around as he heard her footstep.

"Hey Sophie!" he said in a falsely sweet voice, Sophie noticed that he had two deep gashes down the side of his cheek, "Have you come to see me for a nice kiss?"

His friends laughed at this and Sophie felt rage build up even more inside her.

She tried to keep her cool, "Oh yes, because Snake you ARE such a great kisser,"

Snake looked surprised, he grinned in what he probably thought was a seductive way.

Sophie moved closer to him and Snake leaned forward as though to kiss her.

But before he got close enough Sophie kicked him right in the crotch.

He collapsed on the floor, clutching his groin area and moaning.

"That serves you right for making up filthy lies," Sophie growled, she gave him another well aimed kick in the side before swinging round and marching off.

_Man, kicking him felt so good_, she thought as she grinned to herself.

Sophie continued to smile to herself as she approached the 'Library,'

She heard someone call her name and she swung round to see who it was.

She was displeased to see that boy called, 'Squid,' standing there. "Please go away, I'm feel incredibly happy right now and I don't want you to spoil my mood," Sophie said, casting Squid a patronizing look.

Squid looked disgruntled. He scowled at her, "I just was about to say I saw what you done to Snake back there and man, that was a good kick,"

"Yeah, well if you don't go away I'll do the same to you," Sophie said, still glaring at him.

Squid looked slightly worried for about a millisecond. Sophie noticed his hand twitch as though he was about to cover his groin area in case any grubby sneakers came flying that way.

"Well, If you don't want me to show you were your digging then, fine, I won't," Squid turned to walk away.

"Fine…" Sophie started to say, but then changed her mind mid- sentence, "Squid!"

He turned around, a cocky smile stretched across his face.

Sophie felt like wiping the stupid smile off. _Oh, he is SO full of himself_, she thought.

"What?" Squid asked, still with the stupid smile.

"Show me where to dig," she said, submissively, her eyes downcast as to not look at his face and the unbearable smile. _That smile would actually be quite sexy,_ Sophie found herself thinking, _If I didn't hate him so bad._ Squid nodded curtly and gestured for her to follow him.

Sophie did, her shovel trailing behind her, she had just started to notice how heavy the shovel actually was.

The two of them didn't talk at all until they got to the digging site where D tent was assembled and already digging and small mounds of dirt had already formed.

"Find a space and start digging I suppose," Squid said, shrugging, before walking over to a space and plunging his shovel into a crack in the ground.

Sophie decided to dig a little bit away from the rest of the boys. She preferred being by herself.

She brought down the shovel onto the ground but it just bounced off. She realised that she would have to find a crack, like Squid did. She found a fairly big one, beside her feet and she shoved the shovel blade into it and managed to lever up some dirt. She figured that she should go extra slow so that she didn't work herself too hard. She only had to dig until the first water truck. She chucked the dirt onto the ground a few feet away from where she had started digging.

She was about to shovel up some more dirt when she saw a small figure approach her.

Looking up, she saw that it was a small boy with a curly afro. He looked really shy and quiet.

He walked up to Sophie and gave her a filled up water canteen.

Sophie took it, "Thanks," she said, looking at the boy who just stared determinedly at the ground before walking off.

Sophie stared after him, a quizzical look etched across her face.

"That's Zero," the Hispanic boy, who she had heard the others call 'Magnet' shouted over from his hole, "He's one weird dude, doesn't talk to anybody, 'cept perhaps the Caveman,"

Sophie nodded slightly and turned her back on Magnet to continue half- heartedly digging her hole.

After a while she got increasingly bored of digging. She had put hardly any effort into it and her hole was not even what you could call a hole. It was more like a dip in the ground if anything. She was getting frustrated as well, because she was so bored.

"What are we digging for!" She heard herself say aloud.

"To build character," she heard X ray's voice.

"Why do I have to build character?!" Sophie asked, flinging down her shovel.

Sophie saw X ray stop digging. He looked over at Sophie. Zigzag did too.

Sophie blatantly heard him say, "Careful X ray, I think she's trying to brainwash you,"

X ray ignored Zigzag and said, "I dunno…it's odd really, why would your mum make you dig,"

Sophie sat down on the hard ground, "I don't think your digging to build your character…I think…" she sort of trailed off.

She had images of perhaps digging for treasure or digging basically because Sophie's mum wanted them to suffer. She shook the images out of her head.

She looked up and saw a gathering dust cloud in the distance. It took her a while to realise it was the water truck. She had been wondering whether a dusty meteorite had been heading their way.

The truck drew up beside the holes and Sophie saw that Mr Pendanski was driving.

The boys had already lined up for the water truck. Mr Pendanski called Sophie over.

"Sophie, you can get in the truck and wait for me to fill the canteens," Mr Pendanski said, smiling goofily at her.

Squid shot her an envious look.

Sophie smirked at him and flounced into the truck.

Back in her room, Sophie tugged off her dusty gloves and pulled off her hat. Brushing her auburn curls properly for the first time in ages, she noticed that her arms were throbbing slightly. She felt a bit of pity for the boys having to dig holes all day, especially when the sun was up. She looked out of the window and saw the sun rising over the hazy mountains in the distance.

She was suddenly startled when her mum burst into the room. "Sophie, I have been informed by one of the counsellors that they have a suspicion that one of the boys have managed to smuggle in a pen knife. This is very serious, of course. I want you to check the tents now whilst the boys are digging, to see if you can find it, bring it straight back to me when you do, ok. If any of the boys come back early and ask you what you are looking for, make up an excuse, I don't want them knowing coz the culprit might dispose of the penknife then I'll never catch them, got that Sophie?"

"Yeah," Sophie mumbled, she felt too tired to argue with her mum, but she didn't like the idea of looking in the boys tents.

"Right, chop, chop Sophie, stop fussing with your hair and get looking," her mum said before bustling out the room.

Sophie slammed her brush on the cabinet and slowly got up.

Sophie decided to start alphabetically, so walking into A tent she noticed a load of unmade cots and clothes that were strewn everywhere.

She was glad that the tent was empty. She searched every inch of the tent and found things such as letters, photographs and an assortment of other personal things, but no penknife.

Same went for B tent and C tent.

She lifted up the flap and walked into D tent and was surprised to see that Zero boy lying on a cot, his eyes fixed on the canvas ceiling. He jumped slightly when she entered and looked at her with wide, curious eyes.

"Hi," she said quietly.

Zero didn't answer just continued to stare.

"I was just…" Sophie couldn't think up an excuse, "Er…just coming to visit you, yeah that's it…" She realised how lame and unbelievable she sounded.

Zero shot her a quizzical look.

"Yeah…I, um, wanted to talk to you," Sophie was starting to find Zero quite unnerving.

Zero tilted his head to one side, as if to say '_about what?'  
_  
"I was wondering…" Sophie tried to think up something quick, she was never good at this, "I was wondering…if you can talk," Again Sophie winced at how lame that sounded… she actually thought it sounded a bit nasty and gave Zero a guilty look afterwards.

Zero didn't answer. He just lay back down on the cot and continued to look up at the canvas.

"Okay, that did sound a bit nasty, sorry," Sophie said, backing out of the tent.

Zero looked at her again and gave the faintest trace of a smile. Sophie guessed that this meant she was forgiven.

"So are you going to talk to me then?" Sophie asked.

Zero just shrugged.

"Do I have to prove myself worthy enough," Sophie joked, grinning.

Zero nodded and grinned back.

"Hey, well at least you have a sense of humour, that's more than I can say for most guys here," she said.

Zero's grin broadened.

"Well, I'm gonna go Zero," Sophie said, deciding that she should continue with her search.

She searched the last tent and found nothing before heading back to her mum's cabin.

Her mum was on the running machine as she walked in.

Her mum spotted Sophie out of the corner of her eye and turned the running machine off. She stepped off it and looked at Sophie expectantly.

"I couldn't find a penknife in any of the tents," Sophie shrugged.

"But you didn't look properly in D tent did you?" her mum said, looking at Sophie closely.

"No that was because…hey hang on! How did you know that?" Sophie asked shocked, considering for a second or two that her mum might be psychic.

"None of your business," her mum snapped, "Well, I think the penknife belongs to someone in D tent,"

"Or maybe… someone took it with them when they went digging," Sophie said, surprised to find herself sticking up for D tent.

"Maybe…" her mum said uncertainly, "I still think it's D tent, that sneaky lot,"

Sophie was strongly reminded of Mr Sir and the way he normally spoke about D tent.

"Right, when they are back from digging I want you to go to the Rec room and try to make one of them admit to having a penknife, ok?" her mum said, an evil glint in her eye.

Sophie couldn't help thinking that was a little too sneaky and conniving but she didn't dare argue with her mum again. "If I have to," she sighed in deeply, "If you don't mind, I'm going to my room."

She shoved past her mum, she was beginning to dislike her mum more and more as the days went by.

Sophie sat on her bed, sketching. She was feeling the most relaxed as she had done ever since she came to Camp Green Lake. That was, until her mum came bursting into the room.

"Why don't you try knocking for a change?" Sophie snapped before she could stop herself.

"Excuse me?" her mum's eyes flashed.

"Doesn't matter," Sophie mumbled, sitting cross-legged on her bed.

"Good," her mum said sternly, "I want you to go to the Rec room now,"

"Ok," Sophie said glumly, annoyed at how her mum would consistently boss her around and tell her where to go and what to do as though Sophie was merely one of her employees.

"Why don't you dress up a bit prettier and perhaps do your hair? You know, it might help you get closer to the boys and they would be more likely to tell you if they have the penknife," her mum suggested vaguely.

"No, I think I'm dressed ok, thanks. This is how I dress." Sophie said, beginning to get angry, "I'm going to try and find this stupid penknife MY way, end of," Sophie said, looking up at her mum.

"Fine, just as long as you do find it," her mum said huffily.

Sophie shrugged, she couldn't really care less whether she found it or not. "You could fix your hair at least, it's a disgrace," her mum said, gruffly, patting her own perfectly done hair before turning around and strutting put of the room.

Sophie gave her a disgusted look behind her back as she left.

Sighing, she took her messy pony tail out and quickly ran a brush through it. She put a pink Alice band in her hair to keep the stray, shorter parts of her hair out of her eyes.

Before she left, she filled her pockets with candy from her drawer. She thought that maybe she could coax them to tell her who has the penknife, using the candy. Anything was probably better than the food they had to eat.

She left the cabin and looked across the compound towards the Wreck room. It seemed to be the only place in the barren wasteland that was full of noise and activity. She took in a deep breath of the dusty air before setting off across the cracked, dry ground.

As she approached the Rec room the noise and clatter got louder. A lot of yelling and the noise of a radio blaring could be heard.

Sophie stood outside the door for a second, trying to work up the courage to walk inside, when it flung open and hit her in the face.

Stumbling backwards, she clutched her throbbing nose and cursed aloud.

"Tut, tut, Language! I would have expected better from the Warden's daughter," Sophie heard an all too familiar Hispanic voice beside her.

"Fuck you, Magnet," Sophie bellowed, still clutching on her nose as though fearing that if she let go it would fall off.

"Did I really hurt you?" Magnet's voice softened, "Sorry, but you really shouldn't lurk behind doors."

"I wasn't lurking," Sophie grumbled, looking up at him.

"What were you doing then?" Magnet asked.

"I was…well, I was about to come in," Sophie said.

"Really?" Magnet exclaimed, genuinely surprised.

"Yeah I was," Sophie muttered, "I swear, if my nose is bleeding, I am going to kill you!"

Sophie slowly let go of her nose and was relieved to find no blood.

"Nope, not bleeding…but your nose is a bit red, you look like Rudolph," Magnet said, chuckling.

"Ha, ha, so funny," Sophie said sarcastically, shoving past him.

Sophie was annoyed to find that Magnet was continuing to follow her.

"I thought you were leaving," Sophie said, glancing back at him.

"Yeh, well, I was, but I've decided to stay now," Magnet shrugged, "C'mon, I'll show you were D tent's hanging out."

Sophie didn't really know where else to go so she just shrugged and followed him.

**R&R, please **


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognise!**

**Chapter Six:**

Sophie was really surprised to find that none of the boys noticed her as she walked through the Wreck room with Magnet.

_Perhaps they just didn't expect me to actually go to the Rec room unaccompanied_, Sophie thought. She was glad that they hadn't realised she was in the Wreck room yet. She didn't feel quite safe enough without one of mum's employees with her. This made her realise that this was the first time she had been in the Wreck room by herself and she suddenly felt very alone and perhaps a tiny bit frightened. She was determined not to show it though. Instead she just concentrated on the dusty wooden floorboards. She thought that if she didn't look at the boys then maybe they wouldn't spot her.

Magnet led her over to the far corner of the Wreck room where a couple of armchairs had been placed so they formed a circle with a small wooden table in the middle. D tent were lounging on the armchairs, all looking worn- out and fed up.

"Guess who I found lurking behind the door," Magnet said, loudly, making all of D tent look up.

"I was NOT lurking," Sophie said, indignantly.

"Yeah, whatever you say, Chica," Magnet shrugged as he slumped down on the nearby chair.

X ray was looking at Sophie with a really surprised expression on his face.

Sophie scowled at him, "What?"

X ray snapped out of it and said, "Oh…it's just I didn't think you would actually come to the Wreck room. You said you didn't want to,"

"Yeah, well, I changed my mind," Sophie snapped. She kind of cringed afterwards as she remembered that she was supposed to be nice to the D tent boys. She couldn't help it. She just felt awkward around the boys at CGL. So awkward that she found herself being really moody and obnoxious. She wasn't like that normally. It's just she had found herself in a really odd situation which made it impossible for her to be her normal self.

The boys just stared at her as though they, too, weren't entirely sure what to do. Sophie found herself feeling really shy all of a sudden. She just pretended to be very interested in a peculiar looking stain on the nearby couch. She stared at it until her eyes began to glaze over. The awkward silence seemed to go on for ever. It was very uncomfortable, for all of them. Sophie eventually tore her eyes away from the couch and forced herself to look at the boys. She decided to break the silence, seeing as no one else was going to.

"So…" her voice sounded oddly cracked. She paused and cleared her throat. "So," she attempted to speak again, "What do you do for fun round here?"

Armpit was the first to answer, "Well… you can play pool, but the table's always being used and you usually have to fight for it."

"No, I don't want to play pool," Sophie said quickly. The last thing she wanted was a fight to break out. Plus, she was absolutely terrible at pool and she didn't want to embarrass herself any further in front of the boys.

"Well, I don't know what to suggest, there's not much to do here," Armpit sighed.

"You can watch TV," Zigzag said, nodding towards the television set which was situated close by. Sophie was quite surprised that Zigzag had actually spoken to her without referring to her as a brain- washing alien.

"Yeah, I actually would like to watch a bit of TV," Sophie said, attempting to smile at Zigzag but it came out as more of a grimace.

Zigzag backed off, giving her his crazy, wide- eyed stare. Sophie couldn't help but roll her eyes at him. She began to walk towards the television set. She heard Squid snigger behind her back. She wasn't sure why he was laughing at her but she scowled at him anyway. She soon found out. The TV wasn't even working. It had all the black and white fuzzy lines all over it.

"Oh ha, ha, so funny Zig," She said sarcastically.

"What?" said Zigzag, looking genuinely confused.

"The TV's broke," Sophie said, raising her eyebrows at him.

"It better not be!" Zigzag gasped, jumping up from the armchair he was slouched on, and running over to the television.

He looked at the TV and his desperate expression changed to a frown, "What are you on about, Alien- girl? It's working perfectly fine. See, Friends is on,"

He stared at the TV intensely. His round, blue eyes actually moved as though he was following images around on the screen. Sophie looked at him, her face etched with a mixture of confusion and slight concern for him. She wasn't sure whether he was joking or not.

"Come off it, Zigzag," Sophie said, laughing nervously.

But he was too indulged in whatever he was watching to listen to Sophie. Sophie looked over at the rest of D tent who were watching Zigzag and Sophie with amused expressions. Sophie gave them an exasperated look. Squid and Magnet just burst out laughing. The rest laughed too, but not as enthusiastically as Squid and Magnet. Sophie didn't find it very funny. She felt that she was being laughed at and she didn't like it one bit. Besides, if there really was something wrong with Zigzag they shouldn't be as cruel as to laugh about it.

She found herself marching over to them. "What are you laughing about?!" she demanded, "It's not funny! Why is Zigzag pretending that television is working when it obviously isn't?"

"Oh, he always does that," X ray said, waving his hand as though it didn't matter.

"Yeah, he thinks he's actually watching TV programmes, it's weird but you'll get used to it," Armpit said, shrugging.

"You…should of…seen your face!" Squid said, trying to stifle his laughter so he could actually speak.

Sophie ignored his immature behaviour and turned to X ray, "Is there something wrong with Zigzag? He just seems really…weird,"

"I don't know," X ray said, shrugging, "He's always been like that, like Armpit said, you get used to it,"

"Yeah, I read Zigzag's file, he suffers from acute paranoia. That's why he thinks you're an alien and is probably why he watches a broken television set," Squid said, no longer laughing and actually sounding rather intellectual.

"Acute paranoia…big word…I didn't think YOU would know that," Sophie said, snootily, completely abandoning the plan to be nice to them. She didn't want to be nice to Squid. She really didn't like him one bit.

Squid shot her a dark look, "What do you mean by that?" he said angrily, standing up.

"If you're such a genius, guess," Sophie said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Squid actually did look quite menacing, standing before her. Sophie noticed how tall he was. He was staring down at her, his whole face like thunder. But Sophie didn't back down, she stared straight back up at him, her face equally as dark.

X ray cut in before Squid could reply, "Hey…Squid sit down. Sophie's only messing with ya. She doesn't mean it,"

"Yeah, I do mean it," Sophie said, huffily, still glaring at Squid.

Squid sighed and sat down. "You're just lucky that you're a girl," he said.

Sophie threw him a dirty look but didn't say anything back. She knew that she had wasted a lot of time when she should be finding out who had the pen knife.

She looked at the small wooden table and noticed a pack of cards splayed on it. She stared at the cards for a moment or two, chewing on her lip slightly as she formulated a plan.

"We could have a game of cards," she said, pointing at them, "How about 'Chase the ace?"

"What's that?" Magnet asked.

"It's when you sit in a circle and put money in the middle of the table. Everyone gets a card but nobody else is allowed to see it. The person who's on the left of the person who deals the cards goes first. They can either swap it with the person to left of them or keep it. You keep doing that all the way round the circle until it is the dealers turn who can either keep his card or take one from the deck. The person with the lowest card is out. You keep playing until only one person is left. They win all the money. It sounds confusing, but it's easy when you play it," Sophie explained as she shuffled the cards.

"We have no money," X ray said bluntly.

"Yeah, I figured, let's just gamble other stuff then," Sophie said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out some candy, "See, I have candy, I'm going to gamble that,"

She placed it in the middle of the table. The boys eyes lit up, they hadn't see candy in months. Sophie half- expected them to start drooling at the mouth. At the sight of candy, all the boys chipped in, gambling really odd and useless stuff like, shower tokens, rubber bands and forks. Only Zero, Squid and Zigzag didn't play. Zero (who didn't seem to want to get involved in anything) just sat back and watched the game glumly. As did Squid, who was still in a mood with Sophie and didn't want to take part in anything she suggested they do. Zigzag was still watching the broken TV set.

Sophie stared at the stuff in the middle of the table, dismally. She had hoped that someone would have gambled the penknife, then she would know who has it.

"Are we going to play or what, Chica?" Magnet's voice broke into her thoughts.

"Yeah, of course," Sophie said as she began to deal the cards.

She was annoyed that her plan was unsuccessful so she played 'Chase the ace,' only half- heartedly. X ray ended up winning. He took the candy and other junk greedily and hid them in his over-sized, jumpsuit pockets as though half- expecting someone to come over and steal them off of him.

Sophie sighed as she absentmindedly pulled the thread off the fraying armchair she was sitting on. She was really lost for what she could do to help her mum find the penknife guy. To be honest, she really couldn't be bothered either. She felt that it had nothing to do with her if someone has a penknife, so she didn't see why she should get involved.

She glanced around the Wreck room and spotted a tough-looking gang of boys heading straight towards D tent's corner. All the guys at CGL were tough- looking, with the exception of Zero and Caveman who both looked innocently sweet, but the guys who were heading towards them did look very, very tough.

For example, the boy who was leading the rest of the gang looked as though he was six foot tall. He had a face which looked like a bulldog, with small, piggy eyes that were so cold and dark. His eyebrows were very bushy and seemed to be in a permanent frown, and his mouth was just a straight line. He was wearing a tank top which showed off his muscles. His muscles were so large it was unnatural, and a huge, black skull tattoo stretched across his arm, just below his shoulder. He was marching, determinedly towards them, his big, heavy boots thumping against the dusty floor.

Sophie felt slightly worried. She found herself getting up from the armchair and before she could stop herself, slightly hiding behind Armpit and X ray.

"What's wrong, Chica?" Magnet asked, looking at Sophie with a concerned expression.

Sophie was about to answer but got interrupted by the tough- looking guy, whose deep voice drowned out hers, "Well, well, well, Obviously D tent would hog the girl,"

"I'm the not 'the girl.' I have a name, y'know," Sophie's little voice piped up from behind X ray and Armpit.

"I don't care if you have a name or not," the boy said, "All I know is, I think you should spend some time with us instead,"

"I don't want to spend time with you," Sophie said, scowling deeply but still not daring to step away from X ray and Armpit.

The boy ignored this comment and just advanced closer to them. He tried to push X ray out of the way but X ray stood firm and glared up at the boy, "Are you deaf or something, Skull? She doesn't want to spend time with you, leave her alone."

Skull scowled down at X ray. His face contorted with fury that someone had actually stood up to him. The other tough- looking boys standing behind him cracked their knuckles menacingly. D tent began to get up and stand in front of Sophie, even Zigzag stopped watching the broken TV and came over.

"What did you just say?" Skull hissed.

"You have got a hearing problem, dawg, he said leave her alone," Armpit growled.

Sophie could feel the tension. It was truly awful. For once, she couldn't find her voice. She couldn't defend herself against this Skull guy. She suddenly felt very weak and useless. She really didn't want to feel like that, but she couldn't help it.

Suddenly, without any warning whatsoever, Skull's fist came flying in the direction of Armpit and connected with his face. That was the only thing Sophie could possibly make out. The rest, was just a blur of fists and kicks.

Sophie backed up against the wall, completely confused, rather terrified and not knowing what to do. She gasped when she felt a rough hand grab hers and pull her away from the commotion. She was all ready to start kicking and punching if needed when she realised that it was Zero who was pulling her away. He led Sophie outside, not looking at her or even speaking a word to her. Once, outside, he finally turned and stared at her with his deep, brown eyes.

"Thanks…I didn't what to do in there," Sophie said, her voice sounding oddly choked, "I'm not used to it, Y'know,"

Zero didn't answer. He just continued to stare at her until it was quite unnerving. Sophie chewed her thumb, anxiously. She felt really guilty and actually quite worried for the D tent boys, in case any of them were hurt. She didn't really like them that much, but she didn't want them to get hurt.

She looked at Zero and said, "I'm sorry…I didn't mean to cause a fight..."

She turned away from him and began to run towards her mum's cabin without looking back.

**Okay, thanks for reading. Please, please, please REVIEW and tell me if you think it's any good. Constructive criticism is welcome **


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise.**

**Thank you to DubuDoodle for your lovely review. I equally look forward to reading any updates from you **

**Chapter Seven**

Sophie ran up the steps of the cabin almost tripping over them as she went. She wasn't really concentrating on where her feet were going. She was too busy thinking about what had happened in the Wreck room. She felt the sickening feeling of worry well up inside of her.

_Me? Worried for D tent…that's something I'd never thought I'd think_, Sophie paused outside the cabin door. She needed to clear her head for a second, _What happens if they get really hurt? It'll be all my fault. I need to tell mum…  
_  
She pushed open the door so suddenly that her mum jumped up, startled, from the couch she was sitting on and quickly turned the TV off.

"Sophie…oh…I didn't hear you come up the steps," the warden said, looking at Sophie with wide, slightly- guilty looking eyes.

Sophie shrugged and looked at her mum suspiciously, "What were you watching?"

"Nothing…nothing…just some sitcoms, y'know," the warden said, running a hand through her curly hair.

Sophie still couldn't help but feel slightly suspicious. She just shrugged it off. She had something more important to tell her mum.

"Mum…there's a fight going on in the Rec room…I dunno, but it might be pretty serious."  
Sophie said, trying to make it sound as though it didn't bother her.

"Yeah, Mr Sir will deal with it, what I'm more concerned about is the penknife right now," the warden said, sitting back down on the couch. Sophie looked at her mum in shock for a couple of seconds. She didn't seem at all concerned about the fight.

Sophie shook her head slightly and then said, "I couldn't find out who it belonged to. I tried to make one of them gamble it but that didn't work,"

"Yes, but what about Zigzag, Squid and Zero," the warden asked, thoughtfully.

Sophie gave her mum a confused look, "What about them?"

"They didn't play, did they?" the warden said.

Sophie was now strongly considering that her mum was psychic, _How the hell does she know these things? It's freaky!  
_  
"No they didn't! How did you know that?!" Sophie demanded.

"I just do," the warden snapped, "I think one of them has the penknife,"

Sophie sighed in deeply, "If you want me to go sneaking around their cots and being friendly to them just to find out if they have the penknife then forget it. I don't want to! It's sneaky and conniving and I'm totally fed up with it,"

The warden's eyes seem to blaze in anger as she gave her daughter an unnerving stare, "Do you forget who I am! I'm your mother! Don't speak to me in that tone of voice!"

Sophie felt the anger that she had suppressed for so long start to build up inside of her._ Mother, so called Mother. She's hardly ever looked after me. She hardly ever sees me. This stupid camp seems so much more important to her than I am. She doesn't care for me. She bosses me around and treats me like crap. As far as I'm concerned she's no mother of mine!  
_  
"I THINK YOUR FORGETTING WHO I AM! YOUR TREATING ME LIKE I'M ONE OF YOUR EMPLOYEES BUT I'M NOT!" Sophie found herself screaming at the warden in her rage.  
The warden looked at her in shock for a couple of seconds. Sophie glared at her and began to stomp off towards her bedroom. Whilst passing the warden, the warden suddenly yelled out in frustration. She grabbed Sophie by the hair and pulled her towards her. Sophie yelped in pain. The warden was pulling so hard Sophie felt as though her scalp was burning.

"You listen to me, now! You ARE going to find out which of those 3 boys has the penknife. You ARE going to be nice to them," the warden hissed, still holding onto Sophie's hair.

"Or else what?" Sophie said, her teeth gritted as she tried not to show how much pain she was in.

"Or else Mr Sir will be driving you to the middle of nowhere and leaving you there without any water," the warden said, in a threatening tone of voice.

"You wouldn't do that…" Sophie said uncertainly.

"Oh, wouldn't I?" the warden let go off Sophie's hair and shoved her forward, "I want you out of my sight until tomorrow, do you hear me?" Sophie threw the warden a disgusted look before running towards her bedroom.

_I hate her, I really hate her!_ Sophie thought angrily as hot tears poured down her face, _I hate it here too. I want to go home. My Auntie and Uncle may not be my real parents but they love me more than SHE does._

Sophie was absolutely raging. She felt like screaming and just throwing a gigantic hissy fit but truth be told she was quite frightened of the warden and she didn't really want to anger her any further. She wondered if she actually would leave her in the middle of the desert. It didn't seem unlikely. Sophie's mum seemed to be a heartless bitch to everyone so Sophie didn't really expect her to be any different with her.

She jumped into her bed and pulled the covers right over her head. She curled up and chewed on the top of her thumb anxiously. She really didn't know what to do. She didn't want to do as the warden asked. She felt so evil and sneaky tricking the boys. She didn't particularly like them but she didn't want to trick and deceive them. She almost felt as though she had no choice but to after her mum's violent display. She never knew the warden could be so evil to her, No wonder all the boys were scared of her!

Sophie was all confused. _Ever since I came to this stupid camp all I've been doing is being confused. It's not fair and I don't like it. I just want to feel like ME again,_ Sophie thought, angrily, taking it out on her pillow by punching it furiously. She knew that wasn't going to solve anything, she just needed to release her anger and frustration out on something.

Sophie must have fallen asleep because the next thing she knew she was having her covers pulled off of her and she could hear the warden's loud voice above her, "Get up Sophie!"

Sophie was not pleased with this rude awakening. Her neck was sore from lying funny and without a pillow and her head was still throbbing slightly from being pulled yesterday. She could tell her mum was still pissed with her just from her mum's tone of voice and the fact that she hadn't woke Sophie up civilly. Sophie leant up in her bed and attempted to smooth down her creased clothes- she had forgotten to put nightwear on last night.

She looked out the window and saw that it was still pitch black. She looked up at the warden and gave her a bemused look, "Wha…Why so early?"

"You're going to dig today," the warden said, sternly as though she expected Sophie to question it.

She expected right.

"Again?!" Sophie said, rubbing her scalp in the place it was still sore.

"Yes, again, and your digging until lunchtime today," the warden said, looking down at her exhausted and slightly confused daughter.

Sophie looked up at the warden with a fierce expression on her face, "LUNCHTIME! But that's when the sun's up, I'll burn to death,"

"What a pity," the warden said sarcastically as she turned to leave the room, "I suggest you wear some sun tan lotion then," She slammed the door behind her. Sophie rolled her eyes and slowly slid out of her bed.

Her mum was unbelievable. How did she expect Sophie to dig a hole until midday? Sophie knew her mum was just being awkward and nasty because of yesterday and Sophie thought it was ridiculous how immature the warden was being.

_She acts like she's my age,_ Sophie thought as she chose some clothes out her wardrobe, _And it's not fair. She is punishing me and making me dig like I'm one of the juvenile delinquents and I haven't even done anything.  
_  
Sophie couldn't help but think that she had been thinking that her life wasn't fair for a while now. Nothing seemed fair at CGL and Sophie was totally fed up with it.

_I wish my mum would leave me in the middle of no where_, Sophie thought as she cringed slightly when she caught the state of herself in the mirror, _At least then I wouldn't have to suffer in this stupid camp._

Sophie made her way towards the 'Library.' She could see D tent in the line to get the breakfast tortillas. She noticed how a few of them were supporting minor injuries. She was relieved it wasn't anything serious but still felt kind of guilty. Most of them gave her a small smile as she approached. She found herself smiling back.

She paused to grab a shovel but then she turned to them, "I'm sorry about the fight. What happened? None of you got seriously hurt did you?"

"Oh look, she cares!" Squid said, sarcastically.

"You owe me 3 shower tokens Squid, you said she wouldn't care," Magnet said, grinning broadly at Squid who just furrowed his brow and gave him a piercing glare.

Sophie rolled her eyes at the two boys, "Never mind, you seem okay to me." She felt slightly embarrassed that she had actually shown some emotion towards them. She wanted them to think she didn't care.

"You should have seen some of the guys in A tent though," Magnet boasted, "We got them good and proper. Even Skull has a black eye!"

Sophie breathed in deeply, _Typical!  
_  
"Sophie, are you digging again?" X ray came up behind Squid and Magnet. He was looking at Sophie's shovel.

"Yeah, M…the warden's making me," Sophie said, she found it really difficult to refer to the warden as her mum all of a sudden.

"I told you yesterday, take this shovel, it's the shortest," X ray said, giving Sophie his shovel again and swapping it with the one Sophie already had.

"Why give up your shovel for her?" Squid scowled, "She only digs until the first water round,"

"For your information, I have to dig until lunchtime today," Sophie said, throwing Squid an evil glare, "Can anyone tell me where I can get a canteen?"

The boys raised their eyebrows slightly at her.

"Mom might have one, go and ask him," X ray said, shrugging.

"Mom?" Sophie looked at X ray quizzically.

"Oh yeah, that's Pendanski, it's his nickname," X ray said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Okkayy," Sophie rolled her eyes again for what felt like the umpteenth time_. Mom… Mr Pendanski totally doesn't seem like a Mom to me!  
_  
Sophie turned on her heel, dragging the shovel lazily behind, as she started to walk towards Mr Pendanski.

"Yes, Sophie?" Mr Pendanski grinned goofily as he noticed her walking over.

"I need a canteen if I'm going to dig for most of today," she said, dismally, thinking about the horrible day of hard work that she'll soon have to endure, "X ray said I should ask you for one,"

"Ah yes," Mr Pendanski said, looking around as if he expected one to appear at any moment, "Erm…there may be one in the kitchen- area of the mess hall. Go in there and get it,"

Sophie sighed and began to walk towards the mess hall. She was almost there when somebody tapped her on the shoulder. She spun round and saw that it was Zigzag.

"Yes?" she looked up at Zigzag who was staring down at her with wide, slightly- suspicious looking eyes.

"I have thought about it…and I have come to conclusion that you may be an alien with very good brain- washing abilities but then again you might not be. There's no possible way of telling…unless we dissect you, of course," Zigzag said, "But I like you and I want you to know that I think you're a nice alien so please do not brain wash me. You should use such power for good deeds,"

Sophie gave Zigzag a bemused look before shaking her head and saying, "Whatever, Zig,"

Zigzag gave her a curt nod before sauntering off. Sophie watched after him wondering what the hell was going on in that boys head.

**Thank you for reading. Please do leave a comment or two **


	8. Chapter 8

**DubuDoodle: Glad that I'm providing you with some entertainment, I am on a roll today, haha, anything to avoid writing essays.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise.**

**Chapter 8**

After Sophie had fetched a canteen from the kitchen and had filled it, she set across the desert with the rest of D tent. She picked a spot to start digging, slightly closer to the boys this time as she didn't feel nearly as wary about them as she did before.

"Oh and put some proper effort into it today," Squid said, huffily as he walked past Sophie with his shovel, "It took us ages to dig your hole as well, it was barely half a foot deep,"

"I can put as much effort into it as I want!" Sophie said grumpily, levering some dirt up.

"Whatever," Squid said, "Just coz you think you're so special."

"I do not," Sophie said indignity but Squid ignored her and just sauntered casually over to where he was supposed to dig, shovel slung over his shoulder.

Sophie watched after him, her eyes blazing angrily. He just really got on her nerves.

Sophie got her ipod out (she couldn't help but notice how the boys looked at her with envy written all over their faces as she did this) she put the headphones to her ears and pressed play. Music was the only thing to get her through the morning of digging.

When the sun came up it was like a million times worse. Sophie's throat was parched and she longed for more drink but she knew she had to ration the little water she had. The sun was beating mercilessly down onto the back of her neck. She felt sweat drip down her face and she felt dizzyingly sick.

_How could my mum be so evil as to make me do this?  
_  
Sophie looked at her hole with frustration, wanting to desperately chuck her shovel down in submission and run all the way back to the cabin. It was a little over one foot, better than yesterday. She had tried a little harder. She tried to convince herself that it wasn't over what Squid had said though. She figured she'd be able to pretty much manage a 2 foot hole by lunchtime.

She looked up from her work and noticed Zero measuring his hole with his shovel. The boy got up and spat into it.

_Don't tell me he's finished already?_ Sophie thought, _How can such a little boy dig so fast?  
_  
She removed the headphones from her ears and called, "Hey Zero."

Zero looked over his shoulder at her but continued walking.

"You done all ready?" Zero nodded curtly and carried on walking towards the camp compound.

Sophie sighed slightly at the boy's ignorance. Why did she even bother making an effort with him? She had never heard him speak once.

I cannot tell you how relieved Sophie was when Mr Pendanski turned up at lunchtime. If her muscles didn't feel so sore she would have ran into the water truck. She was so pleased to get in the truck, away from the sun's evil glare.

Mr Pendanski got into the truck after her. He gave her a sandwich and Sophie accepted it, eating it hungrily.

After devouring the sandwich, Sophie took her hat off and fanned herself with it. She was truly exhausted and rather annoyed. How did her mum expect her to endure such a gruelling task? She now knew for sure that her mum was positively evil.

Mr Pendanski dropped her off outside the warden's cabin before driving off. Sophie ran up the steps and was about to open the door but realised it was locked.

She banged on the door, hoping that someone was in, she was longing to get inside so she could have a nice, cold can of diet pepsi or perhaps even an ice lolly…if there was any left in the freezer.

There was no answer.

Sophie yelled out in frustration. After all that and her mum was not even in! Sophie peered through the netted curtains trying to see if she could see if someone was inside but it was impossible to see through the thick, net material. She sighed in deeply, running a hand through her tangle of hair, where was she supposed to go now?

She couldn't stand outside the cabin for goodness knows how long, sweltering in the heat. She surveyed the camp compound for a couple of seconds. Wondering where she could go that would be safe and where she would have shade.

Her eyes lingered for a moment at D tent's tent. It would be shady in there. And besides, only Zero was in there and he never spoke anyway. She made her way towards the tent.

Zero looked at her with a slightly surprised expression as she entered.

"Don't worry Zero, I'm only coming in here coz the cabin's locked," Sophie said, sitting down on a cot, feeling relieved to get away from the sun's rays.

Zero just looked at her for a few seconds, blankly, and then turned back to stare at the tent canvas.

_What's so interesting about the tent canvas?_ Sophie thought, watching Zero for a while, _Wouldn't that get boring just staring at that for ages, doing nothing._

Sophie leaned over to try and get better view of the part of the tent canvas Zero was looking at, wondering whether there was actually something interesting about it. She leaned a little too far and toppled off the side of the cot. She landed on the dusty floor with a dull thud. Sophie shot up, brushing herself down, her face flooding scarlet.

She noticed that Zero was sitting up too, looking at her with a slightly amused expression on his face.

"Don't tell anyone about that!" Sophie warned him as she sat back down on the cot. Then she realised he doesn't speak anyway so he probably wouldn't tell anyone.

"How come you dig so fast?" Sophie asked Zero, attempting to start a conversation with him or at least distract him and make him forget about the whole falling off the cot incident.

Zero shrugged, his brown eyes glued to the floor.

"If I were you I'd be well chuffed if I could dig that fast," Sophie said, still continuing the non- existent conversation, "You beat Squid, X ray, Ziggy and everyone."

Zero gave Sophie a barely recognisable smile.

"It must be boring…just hanging in this tent all alone for ages, though," Sophie said, deciding to sit cross- legged on the cot.

There was silence for a couple of seconds while Sophie tried to think of something else she could say. Suddenly Sophie heard a small voice, "How come your mum makes you dig?"

Sophie looked at Zero, astonished. _Omygod! I actually got him to talk!_ Sophie thought, trying to hide the smile of accomplishment she felt forming on her lips.

"I don't really know," Sophie sighed, "It's probably coz she's evil,"

Zero nodded slightly and was about to speak again when a loud commotion outside stopped him from doing so. X ray, Squid and Zigzag entered the tent, rather rowdily, considering you'd think they'd be exhausted from digging.

Sophie noticed that they all had their tops off, presumably just having had a shower judging by their sopping hair. Sophie gasped slightly, feeling rather embarrassed. It was lucky she didn't fall off of the cot again.

The three boys stared at Sophie for a couple of seconds in mild shock before Squid said, "Do you mind, you're on my cot?"

Sophie leapt up and brushed herself down, yelping, "Ew! Ew!" just to annoy Squid.

Squid scowled and rolled his eyes at her.

Zigzag laughed slightly and said, "Aw…Sophie and Zero.."

Sophie shot him a dirty look, "What? What's that supposed to mean?"

Zigzag looked at her as though it was obvious, "Well…you know."

"No I don't!" Sophie said, frowning at them, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable to be in the tent with them, "I'm going..."

She shoved past them and marched out of the tent.

She was relieved to find that the cabin door was open, finally.

She entered the cabin and noticed that the warden was sitting on the couch, indulged in painting her nails a deep, red colour.

"Where were you at lunchtime today? I came back here but the cabin was locked?" Sophie demanded as her mum looked up at her.

"Oh, I was busy…business stuff," the warden said, blowing on her nails to make them dry quicker.

Sophie rolled her eyes and made her way over to the fridge to get herself a can of Diet Pepsi.

"Good work today Sophie," the warden said, casually, "Getting Zero to talk to you,"

Sophie looked up at her mum and gasped, "How the hell do you know that?" before she could stop herself.

"Don't talk to me in that tone of voice, Sophie, how many times do I have to tell you?" the warden said, completely changing the subject, "You don't want me to get annoyed with you again tonight, it's your birthday tomorrow, you don't want me annoyed at you on your birthday,"

Sophie looked at the warden, shocked, for a couple of seconds and then glanced at the calendar on the wall.

True, it was her birthday tomorrow. She couldn't believe that she had actually forgotten about it. _You really lose concept of time and day in this place,_ Sophie thought, _I don't really want to be here for my birthday. I want to be back home with my Aunt and Uncle…_

**Thanks for reading. PLEASE review! Xx**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: The usual. **

**This is the first of the chapters I have had to write from scratch because here is where I stopped my FF all those years ago. So, apologies for any inconsistencies but I will try my best **

**Chapter Nine**

The last thing Sophie expected was to be woken up by her mother at the early hours of the morning on her birthday. She had never properly spent a birthday with her mother. Not one that she could remember anyway. So she wasn't sure what to expect but it definitely wasn't her mum barging into her room and demanding that she digs yet another hole.

Disgruntled, Sophie leaned up in bed, 'this has got to be a joke.'

'Excuse me, do I look like I am one to joke?' the Warden stared piercingly down at Sophie, 'Like I have been saying, I don't want you to be treating this like some kind of vacation. It's just as important that you build some character, just like the rest of the boys!'

Sophie had really started to think that her mum must have some serious issues, she was being so unfair!

'But I'm not like these boys! I'm not a juvenile delinquent. Why am I being punished?!' she looked determinedly back at her mum.

'It's not a matter about being punished or not. I have always said I wanted the best for you and if digging holes builds characters then I want you to build some character,' the warden's voice seemed to be getting more impatient with every sentence.

'If you think digging holes is so great why don't you pick up a shovel for once!' Sophie spat back. As she did so she felt the sharp slap of a hand as it made contact with her face. Sophie's eyes began watering and she tried to blink them back as she put her hand against the hotness of her stinging cheek.

Sophie felt shocked. Although with her mother's temper it shouldn't have been too surprising. She just glared at the warden angrily before pushing past her.

"Sophie, where are you going?!"

Sophie began running.

"Don't you run away from me, girl!"

_Too late. _

Sophie wasn't sure if her mum was following her but she kept running, down the cabin steps and onto the cracked ground of Camp Green Lake. She didn't want to stop. She wanted to keep on running. All the way back to her Aunt's house, but she knew that was impossible.

She ran, anyway.

She ran past the Wreck room, the mess hall, the tents, being careful to avoid the 'Library' where she knew the boys would be up collecting their shovels.

She must have been too intent on making sure she wasn't seen by any of them because she lost her footing and stumbled directly into one of the five foot holes.

She landed awkwardly, on her knees, sending up a cloud of dust behind from all the dirt she brought down with herself.

She remained knelt down for a bit, feeling tears streaking down her face. She wasn't hurt. Her knees felt a bit grazed from the landing. And she wasn't all too upset that she had been stupid enough to fall into one of the holes. Her tears were hot and angry .She was angry at her so- called mum. She was angry that she had been stupid enough for years to wonder what it would be like if she had really been there for her. Sophie loved her Aunt, she really did, but it wasn't quite the same. It wasn't like she didn't know who her mum was. Her mum had been there in Texas all along whilst Sophie grew up. Sophie had always felt like an insignificant part in her mother's life and she felt like today had just clarified it to her. She meant no more to her mother than any of the boys digging holes. Just another body to dig a hole for her.

Sophie was crouched in the hole and must have been deep in her frustrated thoughts because she didn't hear anyone approach from the 'Library' and was shocked when she heard a voice above her.

"Hey…um… are you okay?"

Sophie looked up and saw that it was one of the boys from D tent. Another quiet one, like Zero. He was the one who had curly hair and always wore that same red cap. She didn't even know his nickname.

"Hmmm," Sophie furiously wiped her face, attempting to hide her tears.

"You don't look okay," he had a soft, uncertain way of speaking as he looked down into the hole at her, "you're sitting in a hole to start with," he nervously chuckled.

"I'm fine," Sophie replied curtly, yet she still didn't move.

"Do you need help out?" the boy continued, "I remember when I first tried to get out of one of these holes, after the first time I had dug one. It took me ages, and no one was about so I was yelling for someone to help me for what seemed like at least an hour."

"I don't need help out."

"Oh…okay," he started to walk away. At least, Sophie thought he had. Two seconds later the red frayed cap reappeared over the side of the hole, "Are you sure you okay?"

_Jeez, this guy is persistent. Maybe if I ignore him he'll go away. _

There was silence other than the distant sound of Mr Sir shouting his usual nonsense as he handed the shovels out to the boys.

"Uh…okay…I'm gonna come down to you," the boy said, rather hesitantly.

_He better not. _

It was too late, he was already clumsily clambering down into the hole. He landed at the bottom with a slight _thud. _

Sophie just hugged her grazed knees and glared at him.

"I think you've wiped dirt on your face," the boy said as he sat down beside her.

_This boy has no idea how to talk to girls whatsoever. It must have happened when I tried to wipe away my tears, urgh! _Sophie tried to wipe her face on her pyjama top. _Even worse! I'm still wearing my pyjamas. _

"I don't think you're alright," the boy mused, "if you were alright you wouldn't be sitting in a hole in your pyjamas."

_He really isn't very good at this. _

"No shit, Sherlock," Sophie mumbled.

"So what is it? Can I help?" the boy looked sideways at her.

_He really isn't going to go away is he? _

Although Sophie really wanted him to go, part of her had begun to wonder why he was trying, why he even cared. He seemed different from the rest. She had barely noticed him before. He had faded into the background, overshadowed by the other guys of D tent. Yet the way he was talking to her, looking at her…it wasn't the same way that the rest do. He had some sort of softness in his eyes. Some sort of sensitivity perhaps.

Sophie didn't feel threatened for the first time since coming to Camp Green Lake.

"It's just the warden, she's so unfair," Sophie gave in.

"A lot of things are quite unfair in life. Must suck when it's your mum though," He looked at Sophie hesitantly as he spoke.

"Yeah it does. You don't even know the half of it."

"Maybe I don't. But I know about unfairness. I'm not even supposed to be at this camp."

Sophie looked at him quizzically.

The boy continued, "nope. It's not my fault why I'm here at all. It's all coz of my no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-gran dfather,"

Sophie laughed a little bit, "you keep telling yourself that."

The boy laughed a little as well.

They were quiet for a moment or so, just staring at the wall of the hole. The boy picked at his frayed jumpsuit sleeve.

"I think you need cheering up," he said at last.

"I think you're right," Sophie replied.

"How do you normally get cheered up?" the boy asked.

"I don't know really. How do you?"

"I like to sing."

"To sing?" Sophie laughed, he didn't look like a singer.

"Yeah, don't laugh. I like to sing a song my granddad taught me."

"Oh…how does it go?"

He began to sing, if you could call it that:

_If only, if only  
the wood pecker sighs  
the bark on the trees was as soft as  
the skies  
as the wolf waits below  
hungry and lonely  
he cries to the moo-ooo-oon  
if only, if only. _

Sophie suppressed a giggle, "it's a nice song," she said, "a bit sad for cheering someone up though"

"It made you laugh," the boy smiled.

"Yeah, only coz of your singing," Sophie laughed again. The boy didn't look too offended.

"Are you ready to get out of this hole yet?"

"Do I have to, I kindof like it here. I'm going to make it into a little home," Sophie joked.

The boy smiled, "C'mon, I sang to you. The least you could do is walk with me to where I'm supposed to be digging."

"I suppose," Sophie slowly got up, "what's your name by the way?"

"Caveman, well that's what the boys call me. You can call me Stanley if you like."

"Ha, okay…Stanley."

**Thank you for reading **


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten **

Sophie and Stanley made their way towards the digging site, stopping at the 'library' on the way so Stanley could pick up a shovel.

As they neared to where the boys were digging Sophie began to feel a bit self-conscious. She still had a muddy face, bloody knees, bed hair and worst of all, a floral set of pyjamas on. But she wasn't really sure where else to go.

Mr Sir's truck was still at D tent. They had only just begun digging by the looks of it, as with every movement of the shovel a billow of sand and dirt whirled up in the air behind each boy.

Stanley had begun to look a bit anxious.

"What's up?"

"Um…Mr Sir isn't usually there at this time," Stanley nervously licked his lips, "I think I'm going to be in trouble."

Sophie frowned, realising that if he did it would pretty much be her fault.

"I'll sort it out," she said as she began to determinedly march towards the digging site.

_If I'm going to look like this much of a mess in front of almost everyone at this camp then I may as well look like a mess with some attitude. _

Stanley trailed on behind her, dragging his shovel.

All the boys seemed to slow down in digging and stared as she marched past.

Mr Sir was stood next to his truck, waving his gun about agitatedly as he spoke (or probably shouted) at the boys. Sophie felt a bit worried. She hoped he wasn't planning on using it. The boys didn't look too worried though. To them, it seemed, that Mr Sir's gun-waving habit was a regular occurrence.

Mr Sir must have spotted them as his gun returned to its holster and he sprung towards them. "Caveman! Thinking you can get out of digging duties! No reason for you to be late, woo hoo, wait till the warden hears about this one!" He seemed oddly jumpy and excited, "And what are you doing with Caveman, Miss Walker?! Has he been trying to take advantage of you? Wait till the warden hears about that as well!"

Sophie walked straight up to Mr Sir and tried to make herself seem taller than she was.

_I'm not frightened of this cowboy- wannabe, even if he does like to wave his gun around. _

"Mr Sir, stop jumping to conclusions! And stop jumping as well," Mr Sir's animated form made Sophie feel uneasy. He clearly enjoyed to revel in the idea of punishment for others. _Fitting for his job, I suppose_

Sophie had attempted to speak with some authority. It shocked her that the tone that escaped her lips oddly echoed her mothers. She didn't like it, but it seemed to work. Mr Sir stopped 'dancing' about and stared at Sophie.

Sophie decided to continue, "Caveman, here, merely saw that I had had an accident. I was on my way to the 'Library' and I wasn't looking where I was going and I….um…fell in a hole,"

There was a flurry of laughter from the boys after this.

Sophie scowled, "I was stuck. Caveman noticed and came to my aid and helped me out. That is why he is late."

Mr Sir looked at Sophie, eyeing up her grubby pyjamas suspiciously.

"You were coming to dig…in your nightwear?" he said slowly.

Sophie didn't know what to say to this, "um…yes.."

Mr Sir seemed to be thinking for a moment, "I still think the warden should hear about this."

Sophie panicked, but decided to try again. _I can do this. _

She swallowed down the disgust as she allowed her lips to form the words, "excuse me?"

Mr Sir's eyes widened, part of Sophie could have sworn he jumped back.

She dodged a glance at the boys in their holes around her. They had all stopped shovelling now and were just staring. Silence seemed to pierce the air.

"Excuse me?" Sophie asked again, with more confidence.

Mr Sir stared at Sophie with a look that Sophie could only describe as immense confusion.

"I suppose your story is possible," he said slowly, "And, at least Caveman is here now for digging…the warden doesn't need to know…I suppose."

"Exactly," Sophie tried not to let her tone falter, "And with all this pointless carrying on you are now behind on your water rounds, so get to it!"

Mr Sir did indeed 'get to it' as he nodded to Sophie and jumped into his truck, starting the engine.

Sophie had a feeling that he wouldn't be saying anything to the warden today.

"Thanks for doing that," Caveman said shyly once Mr Sir's truck was a speck of billowing dust in the distance.

"No problem, Stanley," Sophie replied.

The other boys laughed.

"Dude," Armpit called over to her, "His name's not Stanley, it's Caveman."

_Dude?! _

"He doesn't look like a Caveman. I prefer Stanley," Sophie retorted.

X Ray had left his hole and had made his way towards Sophie.

"That was Kick-ass!" he still looked shocked, "you really sounded like her."

"Yeah, it scared me a little bit," Squid had no shame in confessing.

"Sent shivers up my spine just like it does when she comes marching along with her studded boots," Magnet agreed.

"Well, I'm nothing like her," Sophie scowled.

_I really hope I am not anyway. _

"It **was **kick-ass though," Squid had paused from digging yet again and lent on the top of his shovel to get a better look at Sophie, "just like when she kicked Snake in the balls."

"Kick- ass," X ray grinned.

_Oh no they better not. _


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I do not own Holes, unfortunately. **

**Sorry for this incredibly short chapter! I originally had it attached to what is now going to be Chapter 12, but I didn't think the two sections flowed too well with one another so I've decided to give this one a chapter of its own ****. **

**Chapter 11**

Sophie wasn't planning on submitting to her mother's wishes in digging a hole, and she wasn't intending on remaining outside in her nightwear any longer so she made her way back to camp.

She crept up to the warden's cabin, and seeing as she was all muddy and grazed already she had no issue in crouching down beneath the cabin windows amongst the prickly bushes that grew beneath them.

She clutched onto the window frame and used it to make herself hover slightly so not too much of her face would be revealed as she tried to peak through the netted curtains to see if anyone was inside.

She couldn't see any movement.

She hopped up and dashed up the cabin steps. Trying the doorknob she was annoyed to find that it was locked yet again. _Duh! _

Sophie yelled out in frustration. This was getting ridiculous. She needed some clothes.

_I have no other choice really! _

Sophie began to walk back towards the laundry room.

_..And orange really isn't my colour….It clashes with my hair. _

Sophie smiled to herself. She was glad that she hadn't lost all her girlyness in the week she had been at this Camp. She feared the she might have.

She let herself into the laundry room, checking behind her. Partly to avoid the adults of the camp because she could not be bothered with any of them, and partly because the Snake incident had made her wary.

There was a massive pile of grubby clothing in the corner which Sophie chose to avoid, still slightly traumatised by having to handle the boys underwear last time she was in here.

She made her way to the folded clean and new jumpsuits which were stacked on shelves along the wall.

She picked herself out a clean- looking jumpsuit, one which was not so faded from days of digging, and also that wouldn't drown her as she was half the size of most of the boys at CGL.

_Yes, this looks like a Zero-ish size,_ she held it up against herself.

Again, she did a quick check to make sure no one was around before climbing into the jumpsuit.

_There. At least I don't look as silly as before. _

Catching her reflection of her red hair against the orange jumpsuit she changed her mind, _okay I take that back. _


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: The usual **

**Just wanted to say that I returned to my Holes- Nerd roots today and bought 'Stanley Yelnat's Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake,' and I'm (sadly) excited about it! There's a lot more info on the Camp, the counsellors and the boys which is really interesting. So if people haven't got it, I definitely recommend it. I think you can get it really cheap off of Amazon. **

**Chapter 12**

Sophie walked through camp, trying to ignore the itchy starchiness of the jumpsuit against her skin. Unsure of what to do, especially now that she was locked out of the cabin, Sophie decided to do some exploring whilst everyone else was digging.

She headed towards the Wreck Room.

It was a strange feeling entering an empty Wreck room and not see various clusters of orange jumpsuits, lounging on the worn chairs or crowded around either the billiard table or the bench press equipment. It was oddly exciting to have the place to herself. Even though pretty much everything was shabby or damaged.

She decided to play at detective and do some snooping for her own amusement.

_My mum would be so proud, _she thought to herself sarcastically.

So she made her way around the room, perching on various chairs to see which was the comfiest. They were all worn and rather dusty, broken or with numerous holes poked in them where the boys had started picking out the stuffing.

She rifled through the stuff littered on various tables and desks; playing cards, old magazines, papers with doodles on them, books that looked like they had never been touched and a number of little circular things that looked like pogs all lay in an unruly heap.

She noticed that lots of toothpicks and sunflower seeds littered the worn and dirty carpet.

_Squid and Mr Sit would be rubbish at hiding evidence of their presence at a crime scene! _

She noticed a screwed up piece of paper laying on the floor near the box where the boys put their mail for home.

She picked it up and unscrewed it, smoothing it out.

It was what looked like a letter;

_Mum, _

_Just wanted to let you know that I am sorry._

_Love,_

_Theodore. _

_Who's Theodore?_ Sophie wondered, _There are so many nicknames in this place I can't even think of most of the boys real names. _

Sophie put the letter back where she found it and felt a strong urge to look through the mailbox. The letter had just confirmed to Sophie that maybe not all of these boys were bad boys, maybe they did have a softer side to them, families at home who loved them and worried about them. Maybe some of them had just made some silly mistakes.

Sophie shook her head, _I'm starting to sound like Mr Pendanski. _

She stopped herself, _I wouldn't like it if they nosied through my sketchbook without my permission. _

Instead Sophie made her way over to the cluster of chairs which surrounded the broken TV.

She turned it on and watched the static for a moment before deciding to fiddle about with the antennae and the buttons a little bit to see if she could make any difference.

She felt so proud when she managed to begin to see the shadow of blurry images moving across the TV. She thought she could even make out what TV show it is, The Simpsons, perhaps.

_Still no sound though. _

She gave up. It was the best she could do. It was still pretty much unwatchable but if someone really wanted to, they could concentrate really hard and just about make out what was going on.

Bored, Sophie made her way over to the billiard table. It was really scratched and full of bumps.

_I have no idea how they play this properly. _

Nevertheless, Sophie got the balls out and placed them in the triangle. She got one of the chipped and wonky- looking cues and attempted to hit a ball into the socket.

She completely missed. She couldn't really blame it on the bumpy table though.

She practised her pool-playing skills a little longer with no success when she heard the increasing noise of laughter and general rowdiness as the boys approached the Wreck room.

_Ah shit! _

She must have been messing about with the TV and billiard table longer than she had realised. By the sounds of it, they had finished digging.

Sophie didn't know what to do. She didn't want to be in the Wreck room when they were in there. Especially when she didn't have the protection of Mr Sir or any of the other counsellors. And even more so after the fight that broke out after the last time she was in there.

She had to think quickly. They were right outside the door.

She ducked and crawled across the grubby floor to get underneath the billiard table.

Just in time, the boys began filing in.

**I would really appreciate any comments on how it's going so far **


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Holes. **

**Chapter 13**

All Sophie could see was a bunch of orange legs and grubby shoes entering the wreck room. She couldn't make out who anyone was.

She hoped that no one would spot her, but at the same time couldn't help but think, _oh god, I hope I'm not stuck under here all day. _

She tried to listen to the voices, to see if she could recognise anyone but that wasn't really working either.

_D- Tent tend to hang around either by this table or the seats that surround the TV. _

She attempted to move herself over the end the of the billiard table that faced the TV.

She still couldn't really make out what was going on. She thought she could see Zigzag sitting in front of it but she wasn't sure.

Then she heard someone banging the TV and Zigzag's rather gruff voice, "Hey! It's broken!"

Sophie couldn't help but roll her eyes, _Typical! _

Sophie ended up sitting crouched in a ball under the table for what felt like hours but it was probably only about fifteen minutes. She wasn't in the most comfortable position and she felt as though her legs were starting to cramp. She considered stretching them out in front of her, but wasn't sure if she would be able to do it without getting caught. The boys around the billiard table seemed too into their game to notice.

She didn't even get the chance to stretch as her luck worsened when one of the balls rolled clean off the table and along the floor.

Squid was the one who leant down to get it. He bent down picked up the ball and spotted a disgruntled- looking Sophie. His eyes widened in surprise and it seemed as though they just stared at one another for a few minutes. He suddenly jumped up a bit too quickly and banged his head off of the table.

"Oww, Kick, what the hell are you doing?" he gasped.

Sophie grabbed his leg, at least she hoped it was his, "Shhh, Squid, shut up. I don't want anyone to know I'm here. And Kick?!"

Being inconspicuous wasn't one of Squid's strongest qualities. He crouched slightly and attempted to lower his voice.

"What are you doing under there?!" he repeated.

"Who are you talking to, Squid?"

_And that's Stanley's voice, I think. Yes, he hasn't done a good job and making sure no one knows I'm here at all. _

Now Stanley's face appeared under the billiard table as well, "Sophie?"

Sophie just stared back at him, fuming.

Caveman ended up laughing, "You really have a thing for hiding in things and under things today don't you?"

"Maybe she thinks she's a yellow spotted lizard, they have a thing for holes as well, don't they?" Squid joked.

Sophie didn't like them laughing at her.

"You're gonna have to come out," Squid said, "Everyone's gonna notice you are here sooner or later."

_I suppose he's right _Sophie was reluctant to admit.

She stretched her legs out, with some relief and then crawled out from under the billiard table to most of D tent looking at her with sheer bewilderment.

She attempted to look dignified whilst standing up, although she felt pretty stiff, brushed herself down and ran a hand through her nest of hair.

"Why are you wearing a jumpsuit?" Armpit asked.

Sophie had completely forgot she was wearing one. She stupidly looked down at it in surprise causing a chuckle to echo across the boys.

"Chica! You looking fine!" Magnet was eyeing her up and down. He put emphasis on the word 'fine.'

Sophie scowled.

X ray thumped Magnet on the arm, "show the lady a bit of respect, she's not a piece of meat."

Armpit started laughing at this, whilst Magnet rubbed his arm.

"I'm being serious," X ray shot Armpit a look.

Sophie glanced around the Wreck room, looking for a means of escape. The other boys hadn't seemed to notice her yet.

_Maybe this jumpsuit has helped me camouflage. _

"Right, guys, can you help me get out of here without any of that lot seeing me," she was reluctant to ask them for help.

"We could do," X ray smiled at her, 'but you'll have to do something for us."

Sophie gave them an exasperated look, "what?!" she snapped.

"Tomorrow, after we have finished digging, I want you to hang out with us guys for an hour or two, in the tent if you don't like it in here," X ray continued to grin.

Sophie pulled a face.

"That's not all," X ray butted in before Sophie could speak, "you have got to be nice. No hostility, no insults, no kicking. Just act like a nice normal girl who actually wants our company."

"That's gonna be so hard," Sophie grumbled.

She glared at them, weighing up the odds, "Ok, deal."

**Thank you for reading. **


	14. Chapter 14

**Apologies for the shortness of this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Same as usual :) **

**Chapter 14**

The boys quickly devised a plan, although it didn't take too much brain power.

Armpit was to walk in front of her on the side that the majority of the boys were and Squid would take the other side. Because Sophie was a lot smaller than them, hopefully she would be shielded and no one would really notice how oddly they were walking.

Sophie was rather doubtful of this 'plan,' but she couldn't really think of anything better, so she was squished between both Armpit and Squid and ushered towards the Wreck room door.

Being wedged between the two of them had to take the prize for the most uncomfortable situation of the day. It was worse than both falling in a hole and being crouched under a billiard table.

They smelt of boys, a mixture of sweat, odour and …lynx?

_I definitely know why he's called Armpit now, _Sophie thought, disliking how close she actually was to his armpit.

It must have been really obvious how uncomfortable Sophie was feeling because Squid decided to presumably be incredibly annoying and hold onto her hand. It was coarse against her soft skin, blistery, but warm. He stroked her thumb slightly.

She was about to yank her arm away and yell at him when he pulled her, suddenly and sharply towards the exit, flinging open the door and managing to successfully vacate both Sophie and himself without any of the boys noticing.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ABOUT?!" Sophie couldn't help but yell at him.

"What?!" Squid looked slightly red.

"Grabbing my hand like that!"

"I had to grab you, to pull you outside quickly so they wouldn't see," Squid looked flustered, but his eyes remained indignant, set upon Sophie.

"But you…But you…" Sophie spluttered. She felt stupid saying that it was _the way _he grabbed her hand.

"But what?!" The redness of Squid's cheek seemed to have calmed down now, "Did you think I was trying to hold your hand?!" he laughed, but it sounded oddly unnatural.

"No!" it was Sophie's turn to go red now.

"Why would I want to hold your hand?" he sneered, "you're not as pretty as you think you know."

_Urgh, I hate him. _

"Screw you Squid. You're actually the ugliest person I've ever seen, with your stupid doo-rag, and your stupid tooth- picks, which FYI you are littering all over the Wreck room floor!"

_Why am I talking about littering? I don't even really care about littering. _

Squid's hand rose to his doo-rag, he glared at her as if to say, _How dare you insult my doo-rag. _

"Well I hate your stupid red hair which, FYI, is always messy and I hate how you walk about thinking you own the place just like your mum."

"I'm nothing like my mum!"

They stood, staring furiously at one another.

"Well…well…well." It was Snake approaching them, a smirk spread wide across his face.

**Let me know how this chapter went.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I don't own Holes, although I wish I did **

**I found this chapter rather hard to write because I kept muddling up Snake and Squid because of their similar nicknames! Haha so apologies for any typos but I think I covered them all. **

**Chapter 15**

Sophie's heart dropped. She felt a surge of panic in her stomach.

_Why do I feel so frightened of him? _

She looked back at Squid who was just staring at Snake. She saw his fist clench.

"Sorry to break up a lovers tiff," Snake continued to sneer.

"Piss off, Snake," Squid said rather aggressively. Sophie had never heard or seen him like this before. Even when he was just yelling at her then, it was a different kind of anger. His face was now more serious, his eyes dark and his jaw clenched, toothpick held still in his mouth. He seemed to have got taller and wider too, somehow.

"Hey now! No need to be mean. I just haven't seen this pretty lady in a while and I thought I'd come say hello,"

Sophie felt like punching his stupid, sneering face.

"You've said hello...now go!" Sophie hoped her voice sounded strong.

Snake didn't leave. In fact, he moved closer, "But I don't want to go. I don't think it's very fair that Squid here gets to keep you all to himself."

"Seriously, Snake. I think it's best if you leave right now," Squid said through gritted teeth.

Snake ignored him and instead turned to Sophie, "Babe, why aren't you so friendly to me, eh? I don't see you have secret meetings with me like you do with Squid, here. Why aren't you so friendly to me, eh?"

He was standing really close to them now.

"Snake! Seriously! Just take the hint and FUCK OFF," Sophie had lost her patience now. She felt threatened and she didn't like it one bit, and by shouting at him was the only way she could deal with it.

"You've got a mouth on you, haven't you?!" Snakes sneer had been wiped clean off his face. Instead he now glared at her, his face deadly serious.

"Fuck off," Sophie repeated herself, maintain g eye contact with his glare and willing herself not to waver.

He had got too close to her now, she felt herself pushing him before she could stop herself.

It happened all of a sudden, in rapid motion.

Snake had grabbed her hair and dragged her around the side of the Wreck room.

All Sophie could feel was the searing pain from Snakes grip as though her hair was going to be ripped from her head at any moment.

She thought she heard Squid yelled out, and heard pounding footsteps which she hoped was him following closely behind.

"GET OFF OF HER!"

Sophie felt like a ragdoll, as Snake swung her around and pushed her hard against the cabin wall. She felt as though the wind had been knocked out of her.

She tried to kick out at him but before she even got a chance there was a blur of orange jumpsuit and Snake was launched backwards by an angry Squid.

There was a scuffle. Squid seemed to be on top of Snake raining punches down on him hard.

Sophie tried to gather herself together. Her head ached where Snake had grip of it. She rubbed it and tried to compose herself.

Squid had leapt all of a sudden.

_Why? It seemed as though he was winning._

Snake lay on the floor, his arm up, something metal glinting in his hand.

It was the penknife!

"Now fuck off back to the Wreck room and leave me and little missy alone," Snake demanded, licking blood from his lower lip as he spoke, and thrusting the pen knife towards them aggressively.

Sophie looked at Squid wide-eyed.

_Please don't leave me with him. _

Squid didn't look like he was going to move. He stood staring at Snake, fists clenched, breathing hard.

Snake had managed to get up on his feet and had advanced closer to them.

"Do the wise thing, Squid," Snake growled.

Again, Sophie was amazed at the speed of the movement. Squid hurled himself at Snake causing them both to collide to the floor. Snake hit the back of his head, hard, against the cabin wall, knocking him out.

Squid didn't give Sophie the chance to comprehend exactly what had happened. He grabbed her hand- this time she didn't mind as much, and he pulled her all the way to D tent, as though worried that Snake will get up at any moment and chase them.

**Thank you for reading! **


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: The usual. **

**Sorry for the shortness of this chapter. I should have really put it in with the last, but oh well ****. **

**Chapter 16**

They eventually reached D tent and stopped running once inside, both breathing heavily. Sophie was doubled-over, clutching her side, trying to catch her breath. She was drenched in sweat.

She looked up at Squid, eyeing him apprehensively.

He had sat down on one of the camp beds his head in his hands.

Amy felt flustered, _that could have been a hell of a lot worse if Squid hadn't been there. _She shuddered to think what might have happened.

She watched him. He seemed to be shaking. _With anger? _

She wasn't the type of girl to be falling over him like _my hero_. She didn't intend on being anyone's damsel in distress. But… she couldn't deny that she did feel something for him at that moment. He didn't have to help her.

She went and sat next to him. She touched his arm, "Thank you, Squid," she said, and she meant it.

He didn't seem to be listening though. He turned the other way, beads of sweat running down him face.

"Squid?" Sophie repeated, _he's not still mad about me insulting his doo-rag is he?_

"I think it's best if you leave," he said through gritted teeth.

_I can't believe him! I'm trying to thank him! _

"Fine," Sophie said, huffily. She got up off the camp bed and started to leave the room.

At the entrance she turned back to him. She was about to say something witty or sarcastic in her annoyance but before she got a chance to she saw Squid wincing in pain. He had taken down the top part of his jumpsuit off and was wearing a greyish coloured shirt underneath. He had just moved his hands away from his stomach which had a spreading red patch on it, blood dripping from his hand.


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately for me, I don't own Holes. **

**Chapter 17 **

Their eyes met, Sophie felt herself go pale. "Squid," she gasped.

"It's okay," he croaked.

"It's not okay!"

Sophie sprang out of D tent and began running, her feet pounding hard against the cracked ground.

She ran up the warden's cabin steps and started banging on the door.

It sprung open. The warden wasn't alone. Mr Sir and Mr Pendanski were with her and they all seemed to be already standing beside the door.

"Squid's been stabbed!" Sophie could barely gasp out.

"We know," the Warden said calmly.

_They know?_

Sophie was too exhausted to question them, instead she mustered a beckoning motion, "quick, come."

The Warden grabbed both her arms and looked closely at her, "where is the penknife?"

_The what?_

_Why is she asking about the penknife_?_ Why is she still solely concerned about that when someone's been stabbed!_

Sophie felt confused, "the penknife? Snake still has the penknife as far as I know…why does this matter? Quick! We've got to see if Squid is okay," She tried to pull away from her mum.

The warden let go of her and instead turned to Mr Sir and Mr Pendanski, "Go and see if Snake is still by the Wreck room and get me that penknife now."

_I never told her he was by the Wreck room… but never mind that…why isn't she more concerned with getting some medical attention to Squid! _

"But Squid!..Mum…please," she looked up at her mother pleadingly, hoping that she could possibly tug on her heartstrings in this way.

The Warden stared back down at her.

_Was that a glimmer of sympathy?_

She wasn't sure. Her mum's face was so stern, so apathetic about everything other than when she was angry.

The Warden called after Mr Sir and Mr Pendanski, "Also, take the medical kit to D tent and see what you can do."

Sophie wasn't allowed to follow them or to go back to D tent. In fact, she was pretty much just ushered into the Warden's cabin and told to wait there. Her mother stayed too, presumably so she could keep an eye onSophie. Sophie was sat upon the couch and her mum paced backwards and forwards, looking anxious.

_More anxious about that flipping penknife than Squid it seems. _

"Don't look so upset," the Warden turned and snapped at her.

Sophie looked back at her wide-eyed, startled by the sudden comment.

"Well, you shouldn't, it's only a penknife wound, it won't even be deep,"

Sophie couldn't help but feel upset. She had seen the blood herself and couldn't help but feel incredibly guilty that it had happened when he had been protecting her.

It took about half an hour for Mr Sir to return.

When they heard him approaching the cabin steps, the Warden practically ran to the door to let him in.

"Have you got it?!" she asked excitedly.

Mr Sir nodded.

"Is Squid okay?" Sophie blurted out.

"Shh, Sophie, go to your room," the Warden said agitatedly.

Mr Sir got the penknife out of his pocket.

Sophie hadn't got the chance to see the penknife properly when Snake had been brandishing it about but it was pretty old fashioned looking, quite rusty, apart from the blade bit which was quite shiny as though someone had took time to clean and sharpen it. It had a wooden handle with a pattern carved in it and what looked to be some letters too, _KB? _

The Warden grabbed it off him and gazed at it as though it was the most amazing thing she had ever saw.

Sophie didn't care about a stupid penknife.

"I'm not leaving until you tell me how Squid is!" she demanded.

The Warden rolled her eyes and looked towards Mr Sir as though permitting him to speak, "He's doing fine. Mr Pendanski is with him now, cleaning his cut up and stuff. He'll be fine,"

"That good enough for you, Sophie?" The Warden placed the penknife carefully down upon her desk, "Now, go to your room, Mr Sir and I have some things we need to discuss."

Sophie relented and got up to leave. As long as she knew Squid was okay. She felt really heavy and exhausted anyway. _Probably best to go bed. _

As she made her way towards her room she heard the Warden say, "Now all we have to do is find out where Snake found it,"

"Well, you know as well as I do we have methods in ensuring that," Mr Sir replied.

**Please do let me know what you think. **** Any comments are appreciated. **


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18. **

**Thank you for the recent reviews from Lazy4ever, xoThanksDorTheMemoriesxo and xxxMadameMysteryxxx** **. It's really wonderful to hear what people think and to know that readers are enjoying the story so far. I really do encourage any comments, positive or negative, just to let me know how it's going **** Thank you. **

Sophie was disgruntled to realise that her body clock had actually adjusted to the early mornings of CGL. She found herself groggily awakening moments before even her mum burst into her room.

_So much for a vacation. _

"I'm not digging any holes!" Sophie blurted out before she could stop herself, as soon as her mum had entered the room.

A scowl flashed across her mother's hard face but she managed to compose herself slightly before indignantly stating, "I was not going to ask you to dig any holes today."

Sophie felt like asking 'well what do you want?!" but she knew she had to be a bit more careful with her tongue in regards to the warden, her temper was short. So she just gave her a slight look instead.

"I think you deserve a day off hole-digging as a reward, for finding that penknife," the Warden continued.

_There she goes, talking about that flipping pen-knife yet again. _

Sophie continued to just stare at her mother, bemused. She didn't exactly find the penknife. She and Squid got assaulted with it. There was a big difference. But she wasn't about argue, especially if it meant that she wouldn't have to be digging any holes.

"So can I have a lay-in instead?" she asked, rather optimistically.

The warden gave a curt laugh, "No."

Sophie scowled.

The warden ignored her and just said, "I still want you to assist in breakfast, making lunches and the lunch rounds."

_Better than digging I suppose….._

Her mum was about to leave when Sophie said, "…Mum?"

The warden looked surprised. She stopped.

Sophie knew she had to word this carefully, "Do you love me?"

"Course I do," the warden said shortly.

Sophie didn't believe it, "you don't treat me how I see other mothers treating their daughters…they don't have to dig holes for one thing ,"

The warden's eyes seemed to flash slightly, "You're just going through a stroppy teenage phase that's all," She left the room quickly, not allowing Sophie to answer.

_I'm pretty sure that's not it! _

Sophie got up anyway, got herself ready and made her way to the 'Library' where breakfast was usually served. Breakfast always seemed to be the same at Camp Green Lake- honey and tortillas. It didn't look particularly appetising.

She actually managed to arrive there before any of the boys did.

_Wow, I must be super early. _

Mr Sir, Pendanski and the other counsellors were already milling about. Mr Sir was unlocking the 'Library' door.

There was a long table with the tortillas set out and what looked like a vat of honey. Sophie hoped it was honey anyway. It looked a bit…discoloured.

Sophie was told that she had to dip the tortillas into the honey for the boys and make sure that they only take one each . _Easy enough. _

The boys began stumbling out of their tents, looking sleepy and fed- up, rubbing their eyes with their oversized gloves, grabbing their shovels and dragging them lazily behind them.

They then came to get their breakfast.

Some of them looked sleepily at Sophie, smirked or made small comments, although they appeared to be slightly bored of the novelty of a girl at this point.

Sophie kept looking about the crowd of boys, searching for Squid, she wanted to know he was okay.

Her search was interrupted however by the form of Caveman who bobbed up in front of her, blocking her gaze. "Oh hey, Stanley.."

"…Hi," he said looking rather flustered, "I was just wondering…um...if you were gonna keep your side of the deal, the one you made yesterday, and hang out with us tonight?"

Sophie wasn't really listening. She was trying to look around him, still searching for Squid. "Huh?"

"You know, the one you made with X Ray," his voice still had a rather nervous, uncertain tone as he spoke, "I mean…I…uh, really, hope you do…I mean…yeah, it would be nice if you did, you know."

Sophie suddenly spotted Squid amongst the crowd. He looked exhausted, a bit pale with shadows under his eyes and a disgruntled look upon his face. Sophie wasn't sure if it was because of the incident yesterday or if this was just generally his look in the morning.

"Uh, yeah sure," Sophie said, rather absentmindedly. She kind of waved Caveman out of the way and tried to get Squid's attention, "Squid!"

He approached the breakfast table but didn't really look her in the eye, just kind of grunted.

She prepared his breakfast tortilla, "how are you feeling?"

"Fine," he still didn't look her in the eye. He grabbed the tortilla off of her and sauntered off.

_Why is he being so short with me?_

She stared after him, feeling a bit confused.

_What have I done? _


	19. Chapter 19

**Sorry about the delay/shortness of this chapter. I have essays coming out of my ears at the moment but I promise I will pick up on this better soon. As always it would be lovely to hear any comments, opinions, criticisms about what you have read so far. ****. **

**Disclaimer: I don't not own Holes, although I wish I did! **

**Chapter 19 **

When Sophie did the water rounds she specifically noted that Snake was nowhere to be seen. She wondered whether he had to be treated because of his head injury or whether he had been punished. Sophie couldn't really think of anything else that would have stopped the Warden from making him dig his holes, seeing as she was so desperate for her own daughter to be digging, so it must be something serious either way. Sophie didn't feel worried for him, however, mostly she just felt relief that she didn't have to face him.

The day appeared to be mostly uneventful, especially in comparison to the night before. Sophie surprised herself really. She was quite content with the job at hand and she was beginning to feel more comfortable at CGL, if that was at all possible. She wasn't as frightened of the juvenile delinquents, despite what happened the day before. And she felt especially safe with the counsellors around her. She was able to ignore their jibes and react accordingly to them. But mostly, she was glad that she wasn't digging any holes.

When she was doing the lunch rounds at D tent's site, Stanley approached her, a slight blush spread across his cheeks. Instead of taking his sandwich, he stopped in front of her for a few moments, hands held behind his back.

"Yes?" Sophie asked, wondering what he wanted.

Stanley stared back at her, wide-eyed for a moment, before he composed himself. He bought his hand out from behind his back and clutched between his grubby fingers was a pale rounded rock with a swirly pattern embedded into it.

"This is for you…" Stanley said shyly.

Sophie eyed it apprehensively, feeling rather bemused, "what is it?"

"It's a fossil, see," he held it closer to her and pointed towards the markings on it, "Look at the pattern on it, it must have been a creature from long ago, a snail or something."

"Oh cool," Sophie said, still feeling a bit nonplussed. She still didn't take the fossil however, and Stanley ended up putting it down on the table near her.

Before she had time to say anything more X Ray had come out of nowhere and had snatched the fossil off of the table. He held it up to the light and studied it, a grin stretching across his face.

Armpit was at his side. He was laughing, "Caveman, you're always finding fossils!"

The other boys seemed to suddenly gather around (apart from Zero and Squid) causing Stanley to blush a deep shade of red.

"The alien priestess does not want your fossils!" Zigzag butt in.

Armpit shot a confused look at Zigzag, "Alien priestess? What are you talking about dawg? Her name's Kick Ass,"

"No it's really not!" Sophie interrupted.

The boys ignored her.

"Caveman, why are you giving Kick Ass a fossil anyway?" Magnet asked, a mischievous smile forming upon his lips.

Stanley didn't reply. He just stared at his feet.

Sophie was starting to feel a bit sorry for him now.

X ray had thrust the fossil back into his hand, still grinning like a loony, he teased, "do you love her?"

Stanley's eyes widened, he shook his head, "course not," he mumbled.

This made Sophie feel awkward, _poor guy. _

"Well, she wouldn't be impressed by stupid stones anyway," Zigzag said, rather nastily.

Sophie took the fossil off of Stanley, shot the boys a dirty look, looked back at Stanley and smiled, "Thank you, Stanley."

Stanley didn't reply. He just looked at his feet before sulking back to his hole. Sophie watched him, a quizzical expression still etched across her face. She watched Zero pat him supportively on the back and give him a small, sympathetic smile.


	20. Chapter 20

**I am really sorry for being an absolutely terrible updater yet again! **

**Thank you to/for ****xoThanksForTheMemoriesxo****, ****xxxMadameMysteryxxx****,**** the review from a guest to the website and ****melala103****. It is ****really nice to have the encouragement to continue with the story and characters and I love hearing about all of your opinions and views. Hope you enjoy this chapter, some of it is taken from the book and some from the film, so there will be slight differences between the both, but anything you do recognise I do not own, etc etc.**

**Chapter 20. **

Sophie was sat on the steps of the warden's cabin, twiddling her thumbs anxiously. She stared across the camp not really focusing upon anything. She was trying to decide whether or not to keep her side of the deal she had made with X ray, and to go and visit the D tent boys or if she could just avoid the situation entirely. Making up her mind, she stood up suddenly, brushed herself down and began to make her way across camp.

_I really hope I don't regret this. _

She stopped outside the tent. She could hear laughing and chattering from inside. She felt really nervous. It felt as though butterflies were having a disco in her stomach. She took a deep breath, composed herself and entered.

The boys were arranged in oddly structural circle which struck Sophie as strange to begin with. Then she noticed Mr Pendanski sat at the head of the circle. It seemed to be some sort of meeting.

"Oh- I'm sorry," Sophie said, flushing red, "I'll come back another time."

The boys all seemed to shout 'No!' at once, or maybe that was in Sophie's head, but after a sudden commotion of them attempting to prevent her from running away they all turned to Mr Pendanski to witness his reaction.

Mr Pendanski looked slightly confused, but he smiled at Sophie and said, "Well I suppose it can't hurt to have you witness one of my counselling sessions. You might learn a few things." Mr Pendanski had barely finished his sentence when the boys had quickly drawn up a chair for her.

When Sophie had originally entered the cabin the boys seemed relaxed, chattering amongst themselves, laughing at one another jokes, and stretched out upon the chairs in a casual manner, whereas, now the boys all seemed oddly embarrassed and uncomfortable with Sophie seated amongst them. From previously being all lounged out, they had become stiff, sitting upright and oddly attentive to Mr Pendanski's questions. She wasn't sure if they were just embarrassed that she was there to witness their session or if they were attempting to show off somehow.

Mr Pendanski had begun acting in a kind of showy way too. For some reason he seemed to be attempting to impress her with his 'counselling skills.'

"We were just about to discuss the reasons why we are in Camp and what we have learned from it," Mr Pendanski said, addressing Sophie rather than the boys.

_Oh this should be interesting. _Sophie felt oddly excited at the prospect of hearing this, but quite frightened at the same time. She dreaded to think what horrible things these boys had done to wind up at CGL. She wondered if it would affect her opinion on any of the boys that she had begun to…well she didn't really want to admit _that _to herself.

"Right, who would like to begin?"

Of course X ray was always first, "Now, before I say anything, just for the record, I am not a drug-taker. I have never taken drugs in my life. But I got this smart idea that I'd make a load of extra cash selling some. Well, I say that, but it wasn't really drugs, it was crushed up aspirin and parsley and oregano,"

The guys all chuckled at this. Sophie, whose mouth opened at the original prospect of X ray being a drug dealer, smiled a little too.

"I got caught and although I wasn't selling real drugs it is illegal to sell pharmaceuticals without a licence and that's why I got arrested and sent here,"

"And what is it that you have learnt from all of this?" Mr Pendanski asked.

"Well…not to get caught,"

All the boys laughed again.

"On a more serious note," Mr Pendanski ignored the laughter, "You should be saying that you have learnt that to do anything which involves drugs are wrong and it is also wrong to sell anything that is illegal, and also to trick a person, that's wrong too."

"A lot of things seem to be wrong," X ray shrugged, undeterred.

They then moved on to Armpit. They appeared to be doing their stereotypical water line pattern and way of doing things. It seems to be so drilled into them that they didn't seem to be able to do it any other way.

Armpit was sent to CGL because he got in a fight, "I didn't start the fight, but I sure as hell finished it." He had been convicted for hospitalising two of the boys.

Sophie looked at Armpit in slight surprise. She knew he looked tough and she wasn't shocked that he had the strength to hospitalise someone, but he had always been so reasonable with her, cheering her up when she had dish-washing duties with him. She couldn't imagine him beating on someone so much that they had to go to hospital. When asked what he is learnt from it, Armpit copied X ray with the 'not to get caught' response, causing the boys to similarly laugh as they did before, apparently it doesn't get old. But then he paused and said, "I need to learn to keep my cool and deal with confrontations in different way," which Mr Pendanski seemed happy with.

Squid was reluctant to talk. He stared at Sophie sulkily, looking gloomy, as though he seriously resented her being there before mumbling, "I broke into a few houses, I didn't steal much though, just some loose change and cans of soda." Mr Pendanski pushed him further asking him why. Squid shot a look at Sophie yet again before saying, "I dunno, just felt like it."

_What is his problem with me? _Sophie couldn't help but ponder as Squid decided that he has learnt not to take what isn't his as his answer to satisfy Pendanski.

Zigzag claimed that he accidentally set fire to his school when he had been playing with a lighter, setting fire to piece of Styrofoam. "I really like fire, that's all" Zigzag used as his explanation and also his answer to what he has learnt from it all.

Magnet told a rather lengthy and comical story about how he had stolen a puppy, ("I could have made it out, too, if my pocket didn't start barking,"). He decided to make the point to Sophie as well, that his fingers are like little magnets, almost bragging about his thief-expertise.

Sophie rolled her eyes at him, unimpressed.

Caveman blamed his "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-gra ndfather," like he had told Sophie, causing another eruption of the giggles. He had been convicted for stealing some shoes, Sweetfeet's shoes to be exact.

They didn't get around to Zero. He didn't speak out and Mr Pendanski did not bother questioning him. Instead he rounded up his session by making the statement, "You're all special in your own way. You've all got something to offer. You have to think about what you want to do, then do it. Even you, Zero. You're not completely worthless,"

Sophie had assumed wrong, Mr Pendanski did return to Zero, yet the way he spoke was strangely cold and harsh. His goofy grin had disappeared completely and Sophie instantly felt uncomfortable.

Zero stared back at Mr Pendanski, his large brown eyes were wide and serious. He looked uncomfortable too and the boys had suddenly become rather quiet, their comments and jibes had completely subsided.

Despite the awkward silence Mr Pendanski pressed it further, "What do you want to do with your life, Zero?"

Zero's mouth was shut tight. As he glared at Mr Pendanski, his dark eyes seemed to expand.

Mr Pendanski persisted, "What about it, Zero? What do you like to do?"

The silence was excruciating. Sophie felt sorry for the little guy, then suddenly, surprisingly Zero spoke, "I like to dig holes."

"Well you're in the right place for it," Mr Pendanski said, his tone harsh, "Buddy boy."

Sophie felt her stomach tighten. She felt like hitting Mr Pendanski for how he must be making Zero feel right now. Zero looked as though he had shrunk even more in his chair, his expression pained. Sophie didn't know how to approach the situation. She didn't want to embarrass the poor boy further but she knew it wasn't in her nature to hold back. She had to control herself. Instead she shot Mr Pendanski the darkest looks she could muster, whilst the so-called counsellor bought his session to a close.

**Please let me know what you think. Thank you for reading! **


	21. Chapter 21

**I am determined to be a much better updater from now on, so here's the next chapter for you **** Hope you enjoy and let me know how you find it. **

**Chapter 21**

Once Mr Pendanski had left and the boys had arranged themselves in a less systematic and more casual manner around the room, Sophie made her way to sit next to Zero on his cot. After Mr Pendanski's comments, Zero had returned to his cot and sat glumly down, looking at his feet and he remained in this position even when Sophie sat down beside him. He didn't react, didn't even look at her. Sophie looked sideways at him and delicately placed her hand on his shoulder, in attempt to be either comforting or reassuring.

"If it makes you feel any better, I saw Mr Pendanski fall down one of the holes the other day. It was really funny. He was running after Mr Sir because he had forgotten to put the lunches in the truck and just fell straight into one of the holes. I laughed so hard. But he's been complaining about a sore ankle ever since, maybe it's made him grumpy?" Sophie shrugged, hoping to offer an explanation.

Zero lifted his head slightly, suggesting that he was listening to her. His brown eyes lifted slightly too as he raised them to look at her. It took him a few moments before he said, "No. He's always like that to me."

"Well he's a jerk," Sophie concluded. She took her hand off of his shoulder, unsure whether it made him uncomfortable.

Their conversation was interrupted by the boys suddenly gathering around both her and Zero.

"What?" Sophie said, rather nervously. She didn't like the many eyes on her.

The boys all looked a bit sheepish and didn't initially speak. Sophie wondered why they made her come here if they were all going to be so quiet and shy.

"Well?" Sophie repeated herself.

X ray decided to speak, "Um, what would you like to do?" He was behaving strangely submissive for such a leader.

"I don't know. You were the one that made me come here," Sophie wasn't in the mood to entertain them.

The boys continued to look rather sheepish and shy so X ray spoke again, "Well… it's been a long time since we've had the company of a girl. We don't know what to do," He flushed red as he said this.

"Oh," Sophie replied, giggling inwardly at their nervousness. It was kind of cute, actually. _Who would have thought all these 'tough' juvenile delinquents would be so worried about how to act around girls. _

Sophie stood up abruptly, making the boys all suddenly jump backwards in surprise at her sudden moment.

Her inward giggling erupted into actual giggles at this. The power she suddenly had was…interesting. They seemed to be watching her every mood. She walked around the room, slowly, eyeing up her surroundings. The cots were messy and unmade, as to be expected from a group of teenage boys. Socks and, disgustingly for Sophie, boxers lay randomly across the cots and the floor. Sophie couldn't tell if they were washed or not, in fact, she didn't really want to know.

Beside each bed was a wooden box where the boys appeared to keep all their belongings. These boxes all seemed to be equally as untidy and disorganised.

Sophie spotted something in one of them and quickly grabbed it. It was a catcher's mitt. She used to play catch and a bit of baseball with her cousins. She lifted it up, "Do you guys play?"

The boys still seemed to look uncomfortable.

"No. We're too tired after digging," Zigzag said truthfully.

"That's mine," Armpit said, taking the catcher's mitt off of her.

"Oh?"

Armpit nodded slowly, but didn't explain.

Stanley, instead, took the lead. "We all have things from home. Special things. I have a photograph of my family." Stanley picked the photograph out of his box and showed it quickly to Sophie.

"Oh right," Sophie didn't realise they would be so sentimental. She sat down absentmindedly on the cot nearest her, but then realised it was Armpits, "Ew! It smells," she teased, brushing herself down as she pretended to make herself clean again.

Armpit laughed, "Hey! I've had a shower, I'm not that smelly at the moment," He sniffed his own armpit as if to check, "Besides, I didn't even get the nickname coz I smell."

"You didn't?" Sophie asked confused.

"No it was because he got stung on the arm by a scorpion and kept complaining for days about how his armpit hurt," Magnet butt in.

Sophie laughed, but then added nervously, "Are there many scorpions around here?"

"Are you kidding me? There's loads!" X ray exclaimed.

"But they're not what you've got to be worrying about. Sure it hurts like hell, but you probably won't die," Armpit said.

"It's the yellow spotted lizards you gotta watch out for," Zigzag was suddenly stood next to Sophie as he said that, looking at her wild-eyed, as if a yellow spotted lizard was in the room this very minute.

"I saw one, on one of my first days. Mr Sir dealt with it," Sophie wanted to prove that she wasn't completely naïve when it came to CGL's wildlife.

"Yeah, well, they are the ones you have got to keep an eye out for. But alongside them, there's also rattlesnakes and tarantulas," Magnet said.

"Tarantulas?!" Sophie exclaimed, a shiver running down her spine.

"Don't worry, Mr Sir says their bark is worse than their bite," Stanley reassured her, "I think he means they look scarier than the damage they actually do."

"I've actually heard one bark before!" Zigzag blurted out, still maintaining his wild-eyed look.

All the boys laughed at this. Sophie shook her head disbelievingly, wondering what Zigzag would come out with next.

"No you didn't," Armpit sniggered, punching Zigzag playfully on his arm.

Zigzag rubbed his arm, scowling slightly, "yes I did!" he insisted.

Sophie ignored his insistence and continued her nosiness about the boy's tent. She had been in here before, when she had been searching for the pen knife, but had never really looked closely at what the boys had. She hadn't known before that their objects were so personalised and really meant something to them. She thought it had just been a bunch of random stuff.

She grabbed another item out of a box. One she had spotted when she had been on her pen-knife investigation and had been rather curious about. It was a toy rubber octopus.

"And whose is this?" she teased, waving it in the air.

The sniggers of the boys subsided suddenly and they all went quiet.

Squid, who had been lying down gloomily upon his cot and had been ignoring all that had been occurring, leapt up suddenly. His eyes grew dark, "That's mine! Give it back!"

"Oh? You want it? Come and get it?" Sophie said playfully, jumping on a nearby cot, expecting him to give chase.

Squid's face, however, was one of absolute fury. He lunged at her aggressively and Armpit and Zigzag had to hold him back.

"Squid! She's only a girl and she's only teasing you. What are you doing?" X ray chastised him.

Sophie, quite shaken by Squid's sudden aggressive behaviour, dropped the toy, "Only a girl?" she was slightly annoyed at X ray's reasoning. She could handle herself….she hoped.

"It's not hers to touch! She shouldn't be going through my things!" Squid snarled, struggling against the two boys hold upon him.

"I'm only gonna let go of you if you calm down, dawg," Armpit insisted.

Sophie swore she could see tears springing to Squid's eyes.

"Okay, I'm calm," Squid said through gritted teeth.

The boys released their grip. Squid shrugged them off and stormed out of the tent, leaving awkward silence behind him.

**Thank you for reading! **


	22. Chapter 22

**Thank you for all your lovely comments, and also for continuing to read this story. I really appreciate it! **

**Chapter 22**

There was a strange silence in the tent after Squid left. The boys looked awkward. Some of them even avoided eye contact with Sophie and stared at the floor instead. This made Sophie feel awkward too. She had only been teasing and now she felt as though she had done something unspeakable. She felt oddly guilty as well, although confused as she wasn't sure what she had done wrong.

She made the decision to follow him, and glumly, but swiftly, left the tent and the unusually quiet boys behind her.

Although she hadn't left too long after him, Squid was nowhere to be seen. He wouldn't have had the time to reach the rec room or any of the other main buildings, even if he had sprinted, and Sophie wondered for a second as she looked into the expansive distance of the hole-riddled desert if he had actually ran away from the camp altogether. But that was stupid and she couldn't see any lonely figure in the distance.

She began to walk towards the rec room, just in case she had misjudged his speed, when she heard a sniffling noise come from a nearby hole. Confused, and hoping it wasn't a yellow spotted lizard she looked over the edge.

Squid was sat at the bottom of the hole, in a similar kind of position that Sophie had been not too long ago when she had found herself in the bottom of one. His arms were wrapped tightly around his legs in a protective way which made him look so much smaller than the tall, athletic boy that Sophie was used to.

Squid hadn't spotted her yet and Sophie was a bit scared to interrupt him. Especially when he was looking so vulnerable.

She cleared her voice nervously and Squid's head shot up. His eyes met hers. They looked a bit puffy and Sophie felt embarrassed to see him in this way. His sad gaze held hers for a second before he looked away, and resumed his position before, as if she wasn't there.

"These holes aren't too bad for hiding places aren't they?" Sophie said, trying to start some kind of conversation.

Squid shrugged.

"Although I did find that out accidentally by falling in," Sophie chuckled nervously at this.

Squid remained unresponsive.

Sophie was determined to continue, reminding herself of how Stanley was with her and how he did eventually help her in some way, "Don't think I would have left if it wasn't for Caveman,"

Squid made a sort of snorting noise at this. At least it was some kind of response.

"I'm coming down," Sophie clambered into the hole before Squid could protest.

She ungracefully plonked herself beside him, bringing some dirt down with her as she did so which littered the arm of Squid's shirt.

She brushed it off apologetically even though the boys were probably used to the dirt by now, and Squid started at her touch as though she had just electrocuted him. Her hand sprung back at this, unsure of his reaction, particularly as he had only just behaved erratically with her moments ago. She felt as though she was dealing with some kind of temperamental animal who could snap at any moment, and she had to tread carefully.

"What happened just then?" She asked gently.

"Doesn't matter," Squid said, glumly.

_At least he's talking now. _

"It matters. I want to know what I did to you to make you hate me so much,"

Squid shook his head, remaining mute. Sophie wasn't sure if he was shaking his head as a refusal to speak or shaking his head in response to her thinking he hated her. She hoped it was the latter but she really wasn't sure.

"Well, I'm going to sit here until you tell me," Sophie stated, determinedly.

And she did. She sat there next to him, drawing patterns in the dirt beside her, as the sky above them grew a gloomy colour when dusk approached and the smells of food (although not entirely pleasant) came drifting from the mess hall.

Sophie realised she had ate very little all day and her stomach grumbled loudly. It wasn't too long before Squid's stomach was grumbling in response.

"They're talking to each other," she broke the silence, laughing slightly.

Even though Squid had turned away from her and she could not see his face, she swear she heard a supressed chuckle.

"We can't sit in here all night. I'm hungry," Sophie hoped that playing on the idea of food would make him more responsive.

"You can go then," Squid mumbled, "I'm not keeping you here,"

"Squid. Look at me,"

Squid didn't move for a few moments but then he slowly turned to face her. His brown eyes looked dull and tired, and his face worn. Was this from months on end of digging holes, or something else?

"Tell me what is up with you! I know I don't really know you that well but even I can tell this isn't really you. Tell me, what's bothering you?"

His brown eyes looked pitiful as he looked at Sophie contemplatively before stating, "Why do you even care?"

Sophie was stuck with what to say to this and settled with, "Well, why shouldn't I care?"

"No-one cares," Squid said sulkily, in a tone adopted by many teenagers in the 'feeling sorry for themselves' kind of mood.

"I'm sure many people do, the counsellors, the other D-tenters, for example,"

Squid guffawed at this, as if Sophie had said something ridiculously silly, and shook his head fiercely again.

Sophie shrugged his mocking laugh off and tried a different route, "What about your parents then? I'm sure they are missing you and care for you,"

Squid's face turned even sterner and colder at this. His jaw seemed to clench.

"What?" Sophie asked, bewildered at his expression.

"My dad left when I was three years old and my mum's an alcoholic so she may as well have not been there. They don't care one bit. My mum's probably barely noticed that I have left,"

"Oh," Sophie stuttered, and stopped herself. She hadn't even thought of the possibility that the boys may have had hard lives before Camp Green Lake or what life might be like for them back at home. This made her feel like she had been a bit self-centred the whole time she had been there. She had only been concerned with what she felt, what issues she was facing, and her own problems with her mother. She hadn't considered for a second that the boys may be going through similar things, or worse. She suddenly felt a bit sheepish about how she had behaved during her time at CGL. She had spent the whole time being self-absorbed with her own issues.

"Exactly. You'd never understand," Squid's cutting voice broke her stream of thought. 

Sophie felt a surge of annoyance at this and feeling indignant, she snapped, "Actually I do know about rubbish mothers and feeling unloved. My mum practically begged her sister to take me in when I was young and then disappeared back here, leaving me behind. I feel like she's a stranger to me, and now I have come to spend time with her and she treats me like I am any one of you. I'm not having the most amazing time at the moment either."

Sophie cooled herself down, and her annoyance immediately turned straight back to guilt as she realise d that straight away she had become all self- absorbed again and turned the attention right back upon herself.

"Sorry," she mumbles, "what I really mean to say is that I do have a slight idea of what you're going through although I suppose my problems aren't half as bad as yours,"

Squid raised his eyebrows at this apology.

"I'm sure your mum does care though," Sophie said gently, "You're all she has, so I'm sure she must think of you. I'm not therapist by any means, but maybe all the drinking is a cry for help,"

Squid didn't answer straight away, but his facial expression softened. He tilted his head slightly, similarly to how an inquisitive dog might, "It's not. I _know_ she doesn't care. She never writes to me. Caveman's getting letters off his parents all the time." There was a pang of bitterness in his tone as he spoke.

"Maybe she thinks that you don't want anything from her. Maybe she's thinking you are better off without her. Why don't you try writing to her?" Sophie suggested, trying to reassure him.

"No. She wouldn't want me to."

"How do you know?"

"I know," he sighed, and seemed deep in thought for a second before speaking, "If you really want to know what's been bothering me so much lately it's because I have just found that my appeal for a shorter sentence at CGL has been rejected,"

"Oh, that sucks."

"Yeah, and to make matters worse I overheard Mr Sir and Mom joking with one another that they had heard from an officer all about the state that my mum had been in when they had gone to inform her about the unsuccessful appeal. And that all she had managed to slur was that she was glad it had been rejected and that I could rot in Camp Green Lake for all she cared."

Sophie's mouth gaped open at this, "Oh, Squid, that's horrible. I'm so sorry."

She touched his arm gently. His face reddened and he pulled away from her touch yet again.

"I am sorry if it seems like I have been taking it out on you," he said, rather gruffly, his face still red. He gulped slightly, as though unsure of whether he should say anything more. He took a deep breath and went for it, "I don't really know how to talk to girls. I never have been any good with them. And in a stupidly vain way I guess I was just frustrated that when we finally do get a girl here you didn't act exactly how I wished one would,"

Sophie was surprised by his sudden honesty and didn't really know what to say to him in reply. Instead, she kept quiet.

He sighed and continued, "And the octopus toy…it's more than just a toy to me, it's …well, never mind. I'm just sorry, okay?"

"It's okay. Apology accepted," Sophie smiled slightly.

Squid gulped once more before saying, "And I'm sorry for this too,"

The next thing took Sophie completely off guard and by total surprise. She would not have predicted it, not in a million years.

He kissed her.


End file.
